'Vi > wW 


. »V'« .1 

'' t ’'" , 3 c i * irfCK I 


W**H/*S * 















































































































Class G %Q 

Book_B 0 l1 

Copyright N°_ 


COFiKIGUT DEPOSIT. 






























































































































































« 


(l 

' 


















By J. W. BUEL, 

f L 

Author of “The Beautiful Story,” “ The Story of Man,” ‘‘The Living World,” “Russia and Siberia,” etc. 


A RECORD OF THE FINDING OF ALL LANDS 

And Descriptions of the Thirst Visits Made by Europeans to 

the AVild Races of the ’World; 

FOLLOWING THE FOOTSTEPS OF ADVANCING CIVILIZATION FROM THE CAVES OF BARBARISM AND THE CRUDE 

CORACLE TO THE CHRISTIANIZING OF THE GLOBE. 


DESCRIBING SUPERSTITIONS APPERTAINING TO THE SEA AND THE OBSTACLES WHICH 
STRANGE BELIEFS OPPOSED TO EXTENDED VOYAGES. 

COMPRISING ALSO 

AN AUTHENTIC HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA 

By the Viking Sea-Rovers, and Its Settlement by the Scandinavians in the Ninth Century. 

i 

SUPPLEMENTED WITH 

THRILLING NARRATIVES OF VOYAGES, DISCOVERIES, ADVENTURES, BATTLES, DARINGS AND SUFFERINGS 
OF THE HEROIC CHARACTERS, BOLD EXPLORERS AND DAUNTLESS SPIRITS WHO HAVE 
MADE OCEAN HISTORY AND ESTABLISHED CHRISTIAN SUPREMACY 
OVER THE MOST SAVAGE LANDS OF THE EARTH. 

RECITING ASTONISHING INCIDENTS AND PERILOUS UNDERTAKINGS AMONG WILD BEASTS AND SAVAGE 
PEOPLE IN HEROIC EFFORTS FOR A RECLAMATION OF ALL LANDS TO CIVILIZATION, AND 
RECORDING A DESCRIPTION OF THE RIOT OF MURDER, PILLAGE AND INHUMANITY 
, ^ WHICH CHARACTERIZED THE PIRATES, MAROONERS AND BUCCANEERS WHO 
RAVAGED THE SPANISH MAIN AND FOR CENTURIES BID DEFIANCE 
TO THE ARMED FLEETS OF ALL NATIONS. 


EMBELLISHED WITH MORE THAN THREE HUNDRED ORIGINAL ENGRAVINGS AND 

LARGE DOUBLE-PACE COLORED PLATES, 

DRAWN ESPECIALLY FOR THIS WORK BY AMERICA’S MOST FAMOUS ARTISTS. 


PUBLISHED AND MANUFACTURED BY 

HISTORICAL PUBLISHING CONI 

PHILADELPHIA, PA. ST. LOUIS, MO. 


12 1 . 





















Copyrighted, 

1891, 

By H. S. SMITH 


All Rights Reserved. 


The illustrations in this work be¬ 
ing from original drawings and 
protected by copyright, their repro¬ 
duction in any form is unlawful, 
and notice is heieby given that per¬ 
sons guilty of infringing the copv- 
right will be prosecuted. 


'vW-* 



























































































i T /?s 




INTRODUCTION. 




Q), 



NCIENT HISTORY possesses a charm which modern 
annals cannot rival; there is a sun-tinted mist of 
romance enveloping the remote past Avhich flatters, 
like a wondrous mirage, and conjures, like a 
genie of youthful imagination, our conceptions of 
glorious things long since departed. Like a 
beautiful dream, antiquity looms up before our 
vision with its walled cities, castellated battle¬ 
ments, glittering minarets, frowning donjons, 
ponderous draw-bridges and armored knights, while 
tilting tournaments and furious engagements, with lance 
and rushing horse, are re-enacted for some fair lady’s 
hand before our enraptured retrospective view. Appre¬ 
ciating this loving memory of the olden days, of the 
golden and heroic past, of the chivalry which may be dor¬ 
mant, but is ever present in the hearts of every one, ready 
to respond on the instant to patriotic call, I have herein attempted to gratify 
this affection and to rejuvenate an impulse which brings the world into more 
perfect rapport, by telling some of the stories that have never failed to quicken 
ambition, to excite emulation, to exalt daring energy, since their first narration. 

Novel reading has not yet done its worst, for, like a cancerous growth, it 
plants its deadly roots into the very soul, and the knife can therefore only 
check for a time its frightful ravages. The only remedy lies in a substitution 
of wholesome but no less attractive literature, or in a sanitation which will 
give immunity to those not yet affected by the taint, and reclaim such as may 
still be susceptible to more elevating influences. History is the only effective 
remedy that can be offered for this immeasurable evil, and I appeal to mothers 
and fathers, as well as to humanity in general, to give their example and 
efforts towards inducing an acceptance of this corrective, which, while serving 
2 (17) 


























18 


INTRODUCTION. 


to overcome pernicious habit, fills the mind with ineffaceable delights and ines¬ 
timable benefits. 

This book has been prepared with the hope that it may prove a blessing 
in many ways; that it may inspire in every reader an unappeasable love for 
history; that it may diffuse both pleasure and knowledge in the family circle; 
that it may be helpful in teaching the value of good books ; and above all, 
that it may be an aid to the perpetuation of honors won by heroes of discovery 
who have planted the cross of civilization among all the wild tribes of the 
world. To this end, and to create a fresh interest in a subject of such extreme 
importance, I have introduced herein histories of the most fearless navigators, 
-the most intrepid explorers, and the most valorous adventurers in virgin fields, 
■of which the annals of two thousand years afford any account. And in so 
doing I have been careful to observe the advantage to humanity that each 
■career has bequeathed, and left the lesson and moral easily to be learned 
therefrom. 

Thus I have aspired to an attempt to invest my subject with an interest 
that attaches to stories of extraordinary heroism, such as pictures the glories 
of a fadeless past to make the world emulous of proud examples. About books 
of this character there is an atmosphere at once inspirational and mind-invig¬ 
orating, that kills the miasmatic influence which novels exhale, and which 
gives nourishment to laudable ambition towards the attainment of substantial, 
practical, and beneficent knowledge. 

If my efforts in this direction prove successful I shall have obtained a 
reward, for the time and energies devoted to the preparation of this book, far 
beyond that which financial profit can bestow, and my chief aim will be accord¬ 
ingly accomplished. 



feaiiisiiSiiii 




^ »* 


L... .... 










ifcl© 





If 


CHAPTER I. 

The Rolling Stone of History. —Surprising revelations—Ancient Cities that are now no more—Effects of 
Cataclysms upon the human race—The rise and fall of nations—Cave-dwellers who became masters of 
the world—The first boats —Building a strong nation—The earliest navigators—Evolution of the 
ship—Discoveries of the ancients - Islands of the long ago—Changes in the earth’s surface —Commerce 
of Troy with India—Expeditions sent out by Menelaus and Neco—The circumnavigation of Africa by 
the ancients—Solomon’s navy—Discovery of the West Indies by Carthaginians—Hamilcar’s voyage to 
the North seas—Wonderful lands and fountains—Astounding adventures of Hanno—Weird sights on 
the shores of ancient Africa—Witches and Snake charmers—Among the mermaids—Voyage of 
Pytheas, the philosopher—Tears of sorrowing sea-birds—Discovery of a new world—A wondrously 
profitable commerce—A north-west passage—The Romans pass to China by a north route—Destruc¬ 
tion of the Roman empire. 


CHAPTER II. 

Visions of the past. —Eastward and westward of human life—The greatness of ancient Carthage—Venice 
the mistress of the sea—Beliefs respecting the earth’s shape—Teachings of the great philosophers— 
Fabulous islands of the Atlantic—The Viking navigators —Overrunning Europe, yet in the van of the 
Crusaders—Discovery of Iceland—A fish as large as an island—Settlement of Iceland—Discoveries of 
Erik the Red—On Greenland’s frigid shores—The Sagas of old Icelandic history—Discovery of Amer¬ 
ica in the year 889—Verdant shores and prolific woodlands—Adventures in the New World—The first 
w'hite maw that ever set foot on the American continent Killing of Thorwald by natives—His last 
instructions while dying—Finding of a skeleton in armor—Expedition returns to Greenland in the 
year 1005—The voyage of Thorstein—Death of Thorstein—Proofs of Norse settlement in America— 
The courtship of Thorfinn—The first white baby in the New World—The Dighton writing rock—Church 
records respecting the discovery of America —Killing of the first priest—Collection of Peter's pence 
in the New World—Crusader volunteers from America—Interruption of communication—Disap¬ 
pearance of the New T World colonists Imperilled by the savage Esquimaux—Terrors of the Black 
. Plague—Terrible cataclysm that destroyed a part of China—How the Greenlanders were destroyed . 

CHAPTER III. 

Discovery of America by Zichmni and Zeno. —Caught by a terrible storm and driven upon a strange shore— 
Attacked by the natives—A bold rover of the north—A cruise among Atlantic islands—A surprising 
discovery in Greenland—Castaways on the shores of a new world—Interview with a King in Amer¬ 
ica—Description of the new country—Intercourse between Greenland and America—Captured and 
eaten by Cannibals—A sole survivor—How he served his captors—The Aztecs of Mexico—Final res¬ 
cue—Attacked by savage Irelanders—Zichmni makes a settlement in the New World—Speculations as 
to the strange land that he visited—Spirit of discovery excited by Columbus’ first voyage . 

CHAPTER IV. 

Early Navigators and Examples of their monster Vessel. —A view from the plateau of the nineteenth century 
—Passage of the Atlantic before the time of Columbus—Noah’s Ark compared with modern vessels— 
Egypt a country of marvels—A great naval battle 1250 B. C.—The monstrous ship built by Ptolemy 
IV, which was propelled by 4000 rowers—The magnificent and colossal Thalamegus—The giant fleet 
which Hiero sent against Carthage—An ancient ship that exceeded in size and splendor any modern 
vessel.. • •. 


33-44 


45-58 


59-66 


09 ) 


67r69 






























20 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER V. 

Superstitions which long disputed the progress of discovery. —The chains that shackle mankind—The growl 
of superstition at the door of knowledge—Tales of goblins damned—The hand of Satan on the sea— 
Beliefs of the middle ages—The awe of boundless perspective -Demons contending in the sky—Dan¬ 
gers of an angry ocean—Imagination of the sailor—Unnatural forms of the deep—Portents of safety 
and disaster—The old time sailor—Odds and ends of strange fancies—Curious beliefs and practices— 
Good luck and the evil eye—Singular vagaries and conceits—The shock of a sneeze that was always 
fatal -Lucky and unlucky days, names, and events—Forebodings, and fortune amulets—Witches and 
storm-breeders—Mermai ,s, sirens and seals—The mermaid wife who forsook her human husband— 
Horses and oxen of the sea—Monstrous serpents and other frightful forms. 

CHAPTER VI. 

Story of the doomed Bishop. —Condemned to pass thousands of years in the form of a fish—The contrary 
Bishop of Malta whom Paul sentenced to do penance in the sea—Apparitions and Phantoms—A ghost 
appears to Captain Rogers—Saved by a warning—A sister’s spirit gives forewarning of a brother’s 
death—The spectre of a murdered fiddler—Ghost of a deserted sweetheart—The ghost ofCapt. Kidd— 
The screaming woman of Marblehead—Stories about spectral crews—A ghostly company that come up 
out of the sea once every century—Wandering islands—The Phantom Ship—The Flying Dutchman— 
The crimes for which he suffers—In pursuit of the spectral ship—Ghostly ships of extraordinary pro¬ 
portions—A Monk who visited islands of the damned and the blessed—The story that suggested Dante’s 
Inferno—Origin of the ghostly ship—Real spectres of the sea—Why the spectre ship was commanded 
by a Dutchman—Dying superstition. 


CHAPTER VII. 

Marco Polo’s visit to the Great Khan of Tartary.— The most interesting laud journey ever made—Marco’s 
travels prompted Columbus’ first voyage—John Cabot in Mecca—A brief biography of the Polos—Cir¬ 
cumstances under which the elder Polos went to Cathay—They are sent back to Venice for Christian 
instructors—The little boy Marco returns to Cathay with his father and uncle—The wealth of Orrnus- 
CrO'Sing the great Gobi desert—The Polos attached to the Royal Court—Marco is educated for the 
Khan’s service—Appointed governor of Yunnan when only twenty—Denial of request for permission 
to return to Venice—Description of Marco’s travels—Tale of a devout shoemaker—How faith re¬ 
moved a mountain—The sight of a pretty girl’s leg causes the loss of an eye—A Paradise filled with 
Peris—Intoxicated with sensual delights—The keeper of Paradise brought to judgment—Illusions of 
the desert—Whispering fiends-Strange funeral customs—A surprisingly degrading practice—Trav¬ 
ellers permitted to take the place of husbands—Efforts of the Khan to suppress the evil—The people 
wedded to their folly—Indestructible cloth of Salamander skin—Story of a wonderful handkerchief— 
In the country of Prester John—Defection from Umcan—Founding a new nation with Genghis Khan 
as ruler . . . 


CHAPTER VIII. 

The Great Khan wins a wife by battle— Glienghis demands the daughter of Umcan for a wife—Refusal leads 
to war—Ceremony performed by the astrologers to forecast the result—Defeat and death of Umcan— 
Imposing funeral ceremonies at the burial of a King—A terrible slaughter—Musk animals of Tartary— 
How the musk is obtained—The magnificent marble palace at Ciandu—A herd of 10,000 white horses 
and as many mares Mare’s milk used only by royalty—Marvellous power of the astrologers—Not¬ 
withstanding their supernatural abilities they' are cannibals—Kubla Khan suppresses an insurrection— 
Defeats a body of 500,000 cavalry—Orders the execution of the leader by tossing him in a carpet—The 
harem of the Great Khan—How his wives are obtained—Bewildering palace at Cambaluc—Description 
of its size and splendors—The walls of the city—Its battlements and streets-How the social evil of 
Cambaluc was utilized—The Great Kahn at dinner The Khan in his birthday 7 robes—Supplications to 
the gods—The Great Khan as a hunter—His retinue of 10,000 persons—His extraordinary 7 riches and 
how his store of gold was collected—The wisdom and generosity of the Emperor—The King’s care of 
the poor—The first use of coal as fuel. 


CHAPTER IX. 

In the land of Gold and ugly beasts.— Polo confounds crocodiles with serpents—Descriptions which he gives 
of the creatures—How the natives capture them—The Tartar robbers—Means they employ to prevent 


70-79 


81-89 


90-101 


102-117 







CONTENTS. 


21 


torture when captured - A country iu which infants are attended by their fathers—A gold and silver 
monument set over the body of a King—Its dazzling beauty-—The lion hunters of Ciutiqui—Clothing 
wrought from the bark of trees.118-122 


CHAPTER X. 

A Remarkably just Emperor. —The famous district of Mangi—The rich and mighty Fanfur—How he sur¬ 
rendered himself to all manner of sensual pleasures—Care and education of orphan children—The 
Great Khan invades the territory of Mangi—Flight of Fanfur—His wife captured by the Khan—At¬ 
tack on the rich city of Sainfu—Assaulted by engines devised by the Polos —A bombardment with 
stones which compelled the city’s capitulation—A wondrously rich and populous country—The city of 
Quinsai with its marvellously beautiful Palace—The royal preserves and magnificent gardens—The 
man-eaters of Fugiu—Great vessels in the India trade—How they were built and propelled—The 
fight for Zipangu Invasion of Japan—Houses covered with gold—A story of wealth that exceeded 
the caves of Genii—The capture of one city—Beheading of the captives—The eight enchanters—A 
wonderful stratagem—Execution of two Barons—Marco Polo’s return voyage—Visit to the East In¬ 
dies—The Unicorn of Borneo—Killing and eating the sick—A city offered for a ruby—A King without 
clothes—How debts are collected—Some extraordinary stories—How a storm resulted in the discovery 
and settlement of South America.123-134 


CHAPTER XI. 

The false Hopes Of Columbus. —How the story of Marco Polo excited ambition to reach Zipangu and Ca¬ 
thay—The search voyage westward—Discoveries lead to conflicts—The Pope apportions the world— 
Discovery of the West Indies—John Cabot discovers North America—Voyages of the younger Cabots— 
Shipwreck and loss of theCortereal Brothers—Piuzon’s adventures—Discovery of the sailors—Anew 
constellation of the Southern Cross—Landing on strang 2 shores—A desperate fight with 
the natives—Discovery of the Amazon, and of New Spain—A search for the fountain 
of youth—Balboa discovers the Pacific—A journey through Central America-The long 
quest for gold—A fatal jealousy—Execution of Balboa—First fruits of European dominion 
in the Pacific—Establishing a route across the Isthmus—Proposition to cut a canal—Disasters 
overtake Loyasa’s expedition-Renewal of disputes which the Pope could not reconcile— 
Discoveries in the Pacific-The voyage of Saavedra Attacked by native siingers—Visit from a sorcer¬ 
ess—Beautiful island women—Why a canal was not cut through the Isthmus—Further discoveries in 
the Pacific—Settlement on the Philippines-Intrigues with the natives—Friar Urdaneta’s passage— 
Description of the habitations of the Philippine Islanders—An alliance established by exchanging 
and drinking blood—Zebu selected as a place for settlement—Opposed by the natives—Destruction of 
the capital and massacre of the islanders—An Island whence Solomon obtained his riches—Among the 
Cannibals—Worship of toads and other reptiles—Kidnapping a boy—The natives murder ten Span¬ 
iards—A bloody vengeance—Claimed to have visited the southern continent . I 35 _I 5 2 

* 

CHAPTER XIi. 

Voyages of Vasco da Gama. —An ambition to circumnavigate Africa—King John’s belief respecting the 
continent—Secret preparations for a voyage—His sudden death—The ceremonials of courts Grief 
displayed—The people hail his successor—The skeletons of three large ships excite curiosity—For 
what purpose had the King intended them?—A hidden chest discovered—A search among its contents 
reveals King John’s ambition—Legends of other voyages—Prester John and his magnificent court— 

A message from Cavilham who is a prisoner in Abyssinia - An astrologer casts the King’s horoscope 
—Preparations for a dangerous voyage—Eighteen murderers sentenced to death accompany the ex¬ 
pedition—Appointment of Vasco da Gama to the command—Departure of the squadron—First pas¬ 
sage of the Cape—Buffeted by terrific storms—A mutiny quelled by strategy—Maladies and fears— 

First appearance of the scurvy—Capture of hammer-head sharks saves the expedition—Trouble with 
the sultan of Zanzibar—Reception of da Gama by an African King-Making good use of a sooth- 
saver—The King is invited on board da Gama’s ship—Swapping big stories—Some presents that gained 
the King’s favors—The ghost-nut—Departure from Melinda.I 53 ~ l62 

CHAPTER XIII. 

A Remarkable Prophecy. —Legend of the conquerors—The vision of Caleeut At anchor before the city 
waiting for a messenger—Curiosity of the King of Caleeut is excited—A great story-teller—Traffic 
with the people—Commerce of the Moors in India—Offerings of presents to his majesty—Exchanging 






22 


CONTENTS. 


marks of friendship—Reception by the King—His appearance and the jewels that adorned his per¬ 
son—Dangerous jealousy of the Moorish merchants—In the palace of the King—Da Gama is made a 
prisoner—His arrest results to his advantage—Surprising sights in the far east -An exciting race after 
native swimmers—Torture of prisoners—Powder pots used by da Gama—A massacre of the natives— 

A bloody episode—Return of the expedition—Another expedition, of thirteen sail, proceeds to India— 

It results in the discovery of Brazil -Destruction of enterprises founded in the east.163-173 

CHAPTER XIV- 

Da Gama commands another expedition. —A fleet despatched to avenge the massacre of the Portuguese-A 
motley crowd of sailors—The bloodthirstiness of da Gama—Punishment alike of friend -and foe— 
Devotion of Mohammedans—The pilgrimage to Mecca—The ship Khadija laden with pilgrims re¬ 
turning to India—Da Gama gives pursuit—Mirth and gladness suddenly turned to sadness—Piracy 
and murder—Da Gama robs the pilgrims—The Mohammedans fight for their lives—A desperate bat¬ 
tle—Horrible butcheries—Da Gama encloses his helpless prisoners of men, women and children in 
the ship and sets fire to it— A scene unparalleled in history—Miserable end of the barbarous voya¬ 
gers—The red trail of the Portuguese butchers—Da Gama sent again, as viceroy of India—He dies of 
poison—Demon and Portuguese synonymous terms in India—Da Gama’s ghost, pursued by the spec¬ 
tres of his victims.174-184 


CHAPTER XV. 

The Discovery and Conquest of Mexico.— Effects of da Gama’s voyages—The Island of St. Domingo— 
Ambitions of its Governor—The subjugation of Cuba by Velasquez—The escapades of Cortez—He 
joins the expedition against Cuba—Religion and effeminacy of the Cubans—The burning of an heroic 
chief—Settlements and cities founded in Cuba—Cortez the hero of a love adventure—Expeditions to 
Yucatan—Cortez appointed to the command of an expedition against Mexico—How he recruited his 
force—In the idol temples of Yucatan—A battle with the natives—Conversions to Catholicism—A 
terrible slaughter of Indians—Indian maidens distributed among the Spaniards. 185-193 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Emissaries of Montezuma visit Cortez. —The landing at Ulua harbor—Founding of Vera Cruz—An inter¬ 
view between the Indian governor and Cortez—Stories of incredible wealth—Presentation of exquisite 
and valuable gifts—Cortez refused permission to visit the Mexican capital—Cortez inflamed with 
passion—A meeting iii camp—A self-constituted council set up—An alliance with the Totonacs— 

Scenes in the chief city of the Totonacs—The horrible custom of offering human sacrifices—How 
the victims were obtained—The great pyramid upon which sacrifices were made—Ceremonies con¬ 
nected with the bloody rites—An act of inconceivable perfidy—Twenty girls and as many boys 
demanded for sacrifice—Indian maidens become wives to the Spaniards—Destruction of the idols 
of the Totonacs—An altar to Christianity erected on the pyramid of sacrifice—Horrible punishment 
of the mutineers—On the march to Mexico.194-202 

CHAPTER XVII. 

A Pieturesqueness of Landscape Truly Marvellous.— The great beauty and fertility of the country—A 
passage of the Cordilleras—More altars for human sacrifices—Architectural wonders of the City of 
Naulinco—A meeting with the Tlascalans—Their Independence maintained by constant war with 
Montezuma—Wonderful walls about their capital city—A bloody battle with the Tlascalans—Six 
thousand dead upon the field—Another terrible battle—Four hundred men against more than one 
hundred thousand—Gorgeous decorations of the native soldiers—Astounding bravery displayed—A 
dearly bought victory—A third desperate battle—Cortez appeals to the religious fervor of his sol¬ 
diers—An overture for peace—Cortez orders the hands of the ambassadors cut off—His triumphal 
entrance into the Tlascalan capital—An alliance with the Tlascalans.203-208 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Preparations for the Invasion of Mexico. —The full fighting strength of the Tlascalans at Cortez’s dis¬ 
posal—Cortez sends a threatening communication to Montezuma—His crusade against idol worship— 
Obsequious messages from Montezuma—The march to Cholula—A magnificent reception—Treachery 
of the Cholulans discovered—It is seized by Cortez as a pretext for massacring six thousand of the 
inhabitants and burning the city—A horrible scene of riot and carnage—Destruction of the temples 
and institution of Christian worship—Description of the great temple of Cholula—The depressing 
fears of Montezuma—A journey through flowery vales and luxuriant landscape—First sight of the 







CONTENTS. 


Mexican capital—A wonderfully inviting view -Wealth and splendor of the Mexicans—Montezuma 
anticipates his fate—His offer to become a vassal to Charles V—Cities of the great Mexican Valley—A 
scene of bewildering splendor—How Cortez was received by Montezuma—The Emperor’s generous 
hospitality—The entrance into Mexico—Interview between Cortez and Montezuma. 

CHAPTER XIX. 

Cortez’s Fears are Excited by the Importunities of the Tlascalans.— Description of the great pyramid and 
sacrificial altars of Mexico—The peril of Cortez’ situation—Montezuma seized as a hostage—Burning 
of two chiefs in the market place of Mexico—A raid on the magazine of the capital—Building of 
Brigantines on the lake—A demonstration towards destroying the sacrificial altars—A force sent 
against Cortez by the Spanish sovereign—A forced march of brave fellows—Cortez falls upon the 
Spanish force in the midst of a storm—He compels Narvaez to acknowledge submission Capture of 
several vessels and military supplies—Reorganizes, recruits his army and returns to Mexico—A 
slaughter of Mexicans while at their devotions—A furious attack upon the Spaniards -The Mexicans 
inspired to extraordinary acts of valor—The havoc and peril that induced Cortez to appeal to Monte¬ 
zuma—Fatal wounding of Montezuma by his own men—His resolve to end his bitterness in death— 
Hand to hand fight on the tower—Heroism of Cortez—Overtures for cessation of hostilities refused— 
Retreating through a hail storm of weapons—Towers built to provide protection for the retreating 
Spaniards—A crash at the breach—Horrors of the situation multiply—A night of terrible agony—A 
ghastly sight at which even Cortez wept—The retreat back to Tlascala—A desperate fight in the moun¬ 
tain passes—Capture of the sacred banner—Cortez recovers from terrible wounds. 

CHAPTER XX. 

Cortez Plucks the Flower Glory out of the bud of defeat. —Recruiting another expedition against Mex¬ 
ico—Capturing vessels and enlisting their crews—A vast army and supply of military stores secured— 
A plague of small-pox—Death of the emperor—Guatemozin becomes monarch of Mexico—His energy 
in putting his capital in a state of defence—Cortez builds a fleet of Brigantines—A battle upon the 
lake—A wail of anguish—Desperate fight on the causeways—The .Spaniards fall into a fatal trap—A 
terrible slaughter at the breach—Awful sacrifice of Spanish prisoners—A spectacle that freezes the 
blood with horror—Starvation compels a resort to cannibalism—A prophecy of calamity—Terrible 
battle in the streets of the capital -The city is set on fire—Capture of the emperor—Horrors which 
followed the siege—75,000 dead bodies in the streets—The torture of Guatemozin and the prince of Tacu- 
ba—Mexican treasure sunk in the lake—The Mexicans are reduced to slavery—Work of rebuilding the 
capital—Magnificence of Cortez’s palace—A rebellion in Paluco—Conversion of the people—Suspi¬ 
cious death of Cortez’s wife—The white wings of peace—Cortez sets about new conquests—Fatal re¬ 
bellion of Olid—Cortes leads a land march of 1500 miles—Incredible sufferings—Execution of Guate¬ 
mozin—Fresh troubles weigh upon Cortez—He goes to Spain to answer charges —His marriage to a 
noble lady—Return to Mexico with additional honors—He wastes his fortunes in fruitless expedi¬ 
tions—Divested of all authority—Proceeds to Spain with a petition to his sovereign—Disappoint¬ 
ments destroy all his hopes—Neglected and denied justice he attempts to return to Mexico—The 
last hours of Cortez—Reaction of public sentiment after his death—Frequent disturbance of his re¬ 
mains . . 


CHAPTER XXI. 

Magellan’s voyage to the South Sea. —A glorious day in Seville—A procession of notables—Appearance of 
the commanders—A sight of bewildering splendor—The departure from Seville—A voyage to the 
great unknown—Terrifying sights in the sky—The excitable historian—A marvellous water-bearing 
tree—Man-eaters of the deep—Mother Carey’s chickens—Giants of Brazil—Some wonderful stories— 
Seeking a passage to the Pacific—A useless trip up the La Plata—Origin of Cannibalism among the 
Patagonians—Facial disfigurements—Imitativeness of the people—Wonders increase—Strange ani¬ 
mals of impossible creation—A fight with Patagonians and burning of their village—How the natives 
cure the stomach-ache. 


CHAPTER XXII. 

A mutiny among the crews. —A plot to abandon Magellan—Mendoza’s impertinent threat—Assassination of 
Mendoza—A perilous task—Execution of the conspirators—Cartagena and a priest put on shore— 
Wreck of the Santiago—Discovery of Magellan Strait—Hurrah ! Afloat on the Great South Sea— 
Loss of the San Antonio—Away, across the Pacific—A long voyage and provisions scarce—Starvation 
at last stalks the decks—A barren island discovered—Land ahead !—The starving men at last reach 
shore and the expedition is saved—Among the South Sea Islanders —Hospitality is paid by treachery— 


23 


209-216 


217-227 


228-241 


242-251 






24 


CONTENTS. 


k 


A fight with the Islanders—Departure from the Ladrones—Arrival at the Philippines—Kindly received 
by the King and Queen—Planting the standard of Spain—The King is converted and baptized—A 
great day for Christianity—Levying tribute upon the Island of Matan—The natives resist and a battle 
follows—Horrible but heroic death of Magellan—Treachery of the Islanders—Massacre of Spaniards— 
Serrano cruelly abandoned to a terrible fate —Stories of inconceivable wealth—Fear and famine do 
dreadful execution—Abandonment of the Trinidad—Pursuit of a famine-stricken ship—The survivors 
are welcomed back to Spain. 


CHAPTER XXIII. 

HISTORY OF THE BUCCANEERS. 

A black chapter in history. —Plunder and torture of Indians—Applying live coals to the 
feet of a Mexican King —Origin of slavery on the Caribbean islands—Kidnapping natives—Cattle 
raising in Hispaniola—Boucan, or jerked beef—Origin of the term “Buccaneer”—Whence 
was derived the word “filibuster ’’—Sailors turned soldiers - Free rovers on desperate undertakings— 
England and France give license to prey on Spanish commerce—A defeat of the English—Capture ot 
colonists—They are freed and re-establish themselves—Formation of a communistic settlement—Occu¬ 
pation by the English and French of many islands—A fort built at Tortuga—Capture of the place by 
Spaniards and massacre of the people—A few survivors turn freebooters—English and French sailors 
and Colonists become pirates against Spanish ships - Rapid increase in their numbers—All the world’s 
cut-throats find employment on the sea—Desperate and valorous, the Buccaneers are always ready for 
a fight . 


CHAPTER XXIV. 

Fortification of the Robbers’ nest. —Tortuga the great stronghold—How the island lent itself to the plan of 
defence—Desperate prowlers of the deep—Capture of the Spanish treasure ships—Incredible amount 
of spoils taken—Mercilessness of the Buccaneers—Execution of their captives—Cutting off heads for 
pastime—A chronicle of demoniac acts—Reckless bravery of the Buccaneers—Cromwell’s defeat of 
Charles I.—The effect on the naval war with Spain—English are driven from their designs on Hayti— 
Poisoned thorns in the line of march—An immense fleet—A conquest without spoils—Conquest of 
Jamaica—Peter the great—A merciless character—Capture of a Spanish galleon—Scuttling his own 
ship —Peter robs his own men and squanders his fortune in France. 

CHAPTER XXV. 

Bartholomew the Exterminator. —His desperate fight with an armed galleon—His braggadocio leads to his 
arrest—Condemned to death—A hair-breadth escape—Striking down his guard he leaps into the sea— 
Four days hunted with bloodhounds —Escaped from his pursuers, other dangers are encountered— 
Making a club by aid of a fire—A fight with a jaguar—Bartholomew finds safety at last—Rejoins his 
followers and captures the vessel from which he had escaped—A massacre of the crew—Other cruel 
and desperate pirates—Cutting a Spaniard in two with one stroke of a cutlass—Severing ears from the 
heads, and toes from the feet of victims—Cross-eyed John—The price of blood. 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

The Buccaneers seek to acquire landed possessions. — The typical Buccaneer- Mansvelt chosen command¬ 
er of the cut-throat band—Ambitions of Mansvelt the bold—Costa Rica adopted as a base for opera¬ 
tions—Objection to Buccaneer government—Henry Morgan the sea bandit—His first service, when a 
boy, as servant to the Buccaneer commander—A man of destiny—His bravery unequalled —Active 
preparations for war—Morgan becomes a captain and turns his attention towards Cuba—Designs upon 
Puerto del Principe—Landing of the pirates—The Spanish cavalry attack the bandits—A terrible bat¬ 
tle and the cavalry is repulsed—The gates of Principe blown down by gunpowder, but the fight con¬ 
tinues in the streets—Capture of the city, and pillage of the people—Torturing prisoners to force 
exposure of their hidden treasures—A riot of outrage—Abandonment of the sacked city and retreat 
back to Tortuga—Dividing the spoils. 


CHAPTER XXVII. 

Attack on Puerto Bello. —Extraordinary wealth of the place—A startling strategy—A thrilling episode— 
Nuns and monks employed as advance skirmishers—A slaughter of the priests—An exchange of 
courtesies—Destructive explosion of a man-of-war—An act of extraordinary bravery—Defeat of the 
Buccaneers by the Spaniards—A masterly piece of strategy—A burning vessel sent down through the 


252-266 


267-274 


275-282 


283-289 


290-296 







CONTENTS. 


25 


files of the Spanish fleet—Escape of the Freebooters—A furious bombardment—An expedition against 
Panama—Forcing a way through the tropical growth of Central America—Storming a fortress—An 
act of marvellous heroism—Capture of the Spanish fortress. 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

Rewards fixed for services and for injuries. —An expedition up Chagres River—1200 men exposed to the 
dangers of tropical floods and starvation—Perils encountered from alligators—A journey of extra¬ 
ordinary hardships—The famine—Devouring the dried skins of beeves—A burning corncrib—Disap¬ 
pointment following the capture of an Indian village—A terrible storm—111 sight of Panama—A foot 
race for the field—A bloody spectacle—The battle of Panama—A thousand savage bulls—A desperate 
situation—A terrible clash between the bulls and the cavalry—A gallant charge supported by sharp¬ 
shooters—The capture of Panama—A riot of murder and rapine—Inhuman cruelties to prisoners— 
Escape of a large treasure ship—Priests, nuns, women and children held for ransom—Morgan falls in 
love with a fair captive—The Spanish lady rejects all his offers—His brutal efforts to enforce compli¬ 
ance—The burning of Panama—Ransom of the Spanish lady by her husband—Execution of the 
priests who attempt an appropriation of the ransom money—Treachery of the commander—Morgan 
gathers up all the treasures and abandons his compatriots. 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

Decline of Buccaneering. —Effects of the wars of the Grand Alliance—The ex-bandit becomes Judge Mor¬ 
gan—He punishes his former compatriots with merciless severity—How he rebuked his partner in 
crime—Savage destruction of the Buccaneers—Bandits of the ocean wave—East appearance of the 
Buccaneers—The Cartagena expedition—Agreement for dividing the plunder—A serious row precipi- 
* tated by a drunken man—The attack on Cartagena—Entrance to the city—Defeat of the Spaniards 
and terms of peace purchased at the cost of half their possessions.•. 

CHAPTER XXX. 

The plunder Of Cartagena. —In violation of their agreement the Buccaneers proceed to plunder the city— 
The manner in which they despoiled the Spaniards—A system adopted for the collection of the booty— 
A quarrel over the spoils—A fine row between two official rogues—The citizens hire filibusters to guard 
their homes—The English outwitted by the French—The French return and plunder the city for a 
second time—The people submitted to all manner of torture to extract money—The filibusters cheated 
out of their ill-gotten gains—Escape of de Pontis and capture of the robbers—A singular appeal to 
the law—The vast booty acquired at Cartagena is lost in litigation—Ambitions of a dying monarch— 
Dangers that threatened the Buccaneers—East of the Buccaneers. 

CHAPTER XXXI. 

Voyage of Tasman. —History of discovery among the East Indies—Preparation for a voyage of discovery 
in search of a southern continent—Tasman placed in charge of the expedition —Discovery of Van 
Dieman’s land—The first view of New Zealand—Tasman’s ship surrounded by hostile New Zealanders 
—Murdered by Indians—A desperate fight in the sea—Discovery of other islands north of New Zea¬ 
land—A profitable intercourse with the natives—Hospitable but thievish—Meeting the old chief of Am¬ 
sterdam—Description of the people —An Utopian Republic—A singular punishment for thieving— 
Characteristics of the natives of Utopia—Among the New Guineans—Their appearance and customs— 
A fight with the natives—The timidity of Tasman prevents him from making important investigations 
—Results of his expedition. . 


CHAPTER XXXII. 

Expedition of Sir Francis Drake. —The death of Magellan puts a stop to discoveries in the South Sea—Dis¬ 
putes arising from the apportionment of lands made by the Pope—The intrepidity of Drake—Drake 
is recognized by the queen but is refused a commission—Preparations to send out an expedition against 
the Spanish—Secrecy maintained by Drake—Dangers in the South Seas—His departure on a pirating 
cruise—In trouble with Barbary Moors—Capture of a Spanish vessel—A strange sight witnessed on the 
shores of Brazil—The natives recite incantations and make an offering of sacrifices—A terrible thun¬ 
der storm believed to be the result of diabolical arts of the natives —Footprints of giant stature traced 
on the ground—In contact with the Indians—Description of the natives—A battle with the Patago¬ 
nians—Death of two members of the expedition—A charge of mutiny preferred—Trial and execution 
of Capt. Doughty—The extraordinary coolness with which he submits to the executioner’s axe— 


297-306 


307-31'/ 


318-324 


325-334 


335-344 








26 


CONTENTS. 


Incidents in the passage of Magellan Strait—A slaughter of penguins provides provisions for the 
crew—Meeting with a pigmy race of Indians—Visit to a Fuegau village—Driven out to sea and loss of 
the Marigold—A discouraged crew attempt to mutiny and return home—A party sent on shore attacked 
by Indians—A massacre and horrible sufferings of two survivors—One dies from thirst, the other picked 
up and returned to England. 


CHAPTER XXXIII. 

An attack in which Drake is wounded.— Proceeding up the coast of Chili—Capture of an Indian fisherman 
—Through his efforts provisions are obtained from the natives—Capture of a Spanish galleon with an 
enormous quantity of gold, jewels and other valuables—Surprised by a body of 300 Spaniards—The 
capture of a wonderfully rich treasure—Peru thought to be literally filled w r ith gold—An exciting 
chase - Capture of another rich galleon—Valuables to the amount of $'/2Q j ooo obtained Drake con¬ 
ceives a new ambition—He decides to attempt a north-west passage—Capture of other Spanish vessels 
on his way—Among the natives of California-The discovery of tobacco—A camp on shore—Fear of 
the natives induces Drake to erect a fort—Orgies of idol and demon worship—Women tear their flesh 
and dash themselves to the ground—A bloody and terrible spectacle—Drake receives the Indian King 
—A remarkable procession of natives - Singular ceremouies and kingly investiture—Drake is crowned 
King of California—Descriptions of the Indians and their villages. 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 

A voyage to the East Indies. —Abandoning his purpose to find a north-west passage, Drake sails westward to 
the Moluccas—Drake’s ship is attacked by Islanders—Description of the savage Islanders—Reception 
to the King of Ternate—Description of the royal barge—Punctilious etiquette of the King’s court — 
The King’s friends seek to induce Drake to visit him—Prevented by fears of his personal safety—De¬ 
scription of the King—Animal life on Crab island—An accident to the ship—A pleasant visit to the 
island Booton—Among the people of Java—Description of the natives and their customs—The return 
trip from Java to England. 


CHAPTER XXXV. 

Honored as a hero yet condemned as a corsair. —The great reception tendered to Drake on his return—Seri¬ 
ous questions raised by Spanish claimants—Banquet to Drake attended by the queen—Drake is 
knighted by Elizabeth—A love affair between Drake and his queen—Drake placed in command of an 
expedition against St. Domingo—A vigorous bombardment of the city is followed by its capitulation 
and destruction—Cartagena becomes the next object of attack—Burning of St. Helena and St. Augus¬ 
tine—Prize money acquired by Drake divided among his men—Destruction of the Spanish Armada— 
Death of Sir John Hawkins—A cannonball strikes a chair from under Drake—Death of Drake and an 
estimate of his services rendered to England.. . 

CHAPTER XXXVI. 

Cavendish's voyages around the world. —Glory of the Elizabethan Age—The spirit of discovery animates 
England—Heroism of Cavendish—Equipment of an expedition to the South Sea—Cavendish is ap¬ 
pointed to the command—Capture and plunder of an African village—Drake on the coast of Patago¬ 
nia—Discovery of the skeletons of giants—Incredible sufferings of a Spanish colony—Capture of four 
Spanish vessels—Torture of a Spanish messenger—A Spanish queen on the island of Puna—Another 
battle with the Spaniards—Cavendish destroys the shipping along the coast of South America—A hot 
fight between Cavendish and the Spaniards—Capture of the galleon and its rich treasure—Singular 
disappearance of the ship Content—Cavendish, reduced to a single vessel, starts for the Ladrone 
Islands—Supplied with provisions by the natives—An execution growing out of an effort to supplant 
the Spanish—Efforts to keep secret from the Spaniards his lauding at the Ladrones—An interview 
with the devil—King of a hundred wives -Self-sacrifice of wives at the King’s death—Description of 
some curious customs ■ -Return of Cavendish—Enormous w r ealth amassed by the expedition. 

CHAPTER XXXVII. 

Cavendish’s second voyage. —Excitement created in England by the treasures that he accumulated—The 
misfortunes of Cavendish begin directly after his departure—Cavendish’s sad story—Mutiny and 
treachery among his crew—Astounding stories told by a voyager — Five years among the cannibals— 
Concerning the base treachery of Davis—Hardships of Davis after separating from Cavendish—Saved 
from starvation by the killing of a large number of birds—The dog-fa^ed men of Patagonia—A plague 
of worms—Cavendish's excoriation of Davis—24 of his men are killed —Cavendish is defeated by the 


345-357 


358-366 


367-373 


374-378 


379-392 








CONTENTS. 


27 


Portuguese—A mutiny among the crew—He attempts the execution of one of his men with his own 
hands—handing upon an island, he commences building a new vessel—Attacked by savages and many 
of his men killed—Cavendish falls into a condition of complete discouragement—Letter written by 
the dying admiral —The character of Cavendish. 

CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

Voyage of Mons. de Bougainville.— A short history of tli£ life of this great voyager—His efforts to colonize 
the Falkland Islands —Afterwards is commanded to transfer them to the Spanish—A thrilling adven¬ 
ture at the crossing of the St. Lucia River—Trouble with a Spanish viceroy—His vessels are damaged 
by a storm, but he finds safety on the Patagonian coast—His reception by the Patagonians—Fuegan 
conjurers minister to a fatally injured boy—Discoveries in the South Seas—A pleasant intercourse 
with islanders—Enthusiastic reception by the Otaheitans—View of a fruit-bearing coast—Female 
beauty unadorned—§ome ravishing views presented—A wild disorder, incident upon the visit of so 
many beautiful women—Bougainville is entertained by an aged chief—At the chiefs invitation the 
French pitch their tents upon the shore—After a long and delightful stay a tragedy ends the 
visit.• • •. 


CHAPTER XXXIX. 

An excursion among the islands of the South Sea.— An affectionate parting from the Otaheitans—One of 
the natives accompanies Bougainville on his voyage—Among the Fijians—Appearance of the people 
who visited him—Discovery of the Navigator Group—A visit to the other islands of the Archipelago 
—The crew is attacked with scurvy—Bougainville’s description of the islanders—A woman disguised 
as a man found among the crew—An extraordinary story told by the female hero—A starving crew — 
Attacked by cannibals -Driven from island to island and everywhere refused provisions -A misunder¬ 
standing with the natives—Hostile natives frightened by the firing of a rocket—Snakes and crocodiles— 
The return to France—Bougainville in the war for American independence. 

CHAPTER XL. 

A Brief Biography of Captain Cook. —His early disadvantages—Apprenticed to a haberdasher—Engagement 
as a cabin boy—Rapid promotion, and part taken in the war with Canada—Cook’s account of an 
eclipse of the sun—Placed in command of a scientific expedition to Otaheite—In search of an Antarc¬ 
tic continent—In quest of a north-west passage—His tragic death at the hands of Sandwich Islanders . 

CHAPTER XLI. 

Cook’s Start for the South Sea. —Splendid equipment of the expedition —Among the Brazilians—Lost on 
the mountains of Terre del Fuego—Habits of the Fuegans—An extraordinary cuttle-fish—Reception at 
Otaheite—Killing of a native—Customs of the natives in disposing of dead bodies—Theft of scientific 
instruments—An entertainment provided by the natives-Successful observation of the transit of 
Venus—A band of native minstrels—A gruesome memorial—The sailors fall in love with Otaheitan 
girls—Description of the islanders—Concerning their domestic customs. 

CHAPTER XLII. 

The Female Dancers of Bolabola.— A unique and pleasurable entertainment—Costumes of the dancers— 
First conflict with New Zealanders—Killing of a chief-Strange beliefs of the natives—Another tragic 
incident—A bloody spectacle—Self-mutilation as an act of mourning—An attack by the natives-Can¬ 
nibalism—Departure from New Zealand—Among the Australians—Australian Boomerang throwers— 
Game found in Australia—Timidity of the natives—An accident to the ship—Curious customs—Aus¬ 
tralian lance throwers—A surprising thing seen on the New Guinea coast -An inhospitable recep¬ 
tion—Arrival at Java—Sickness and death at Batavia—Running Amuck—Extraordinary supersti¬ 
tions—Return to England. 


CHAPTER XLIII. 

The Object of Cook’s Second Voyage.— Belief in the existence of a southern continent—Sailing of the 
fleet—In a region of intense cold—Angling for albatrosses —A separation of the ships—Examination 
of Van Dieman’s Land—How the natives live—Evidences of cannibalism—Six gigantic waterspouts 
—The billy-goat attacks a native boy-A ruined shirt—Another reception at Otaheite—A drama 
enacted by natives—A grand feast—Sacrifice of human beings—Feast of the Restoration—How the 
sacrifices are obtained. 


393-404 


405-414 


415-422 


423-427 


428-435 


436-446 


447-454 









28 


CONTENTS. 


» 


CHAPTER XLIV. 

Separation of the Ships and a Chief Pickpocket. —Again anchored off New Zealand—Cannibalism of the 
New Zealanders—A shocking sight—Remarks on cannibalism—Abandonment of the search for a 
southern continent—Discovery of new lands—Arrival at Easter island—Wondrous stone statues 
carved by an extinct people—Descriptions of the statues on Easter island—Wonderful relics on Tin¬ 
ian island—The people of Easter island—Products of the island—Among the Marquesans—Return to 
Otaheite —The Otaheitan fleet -War among the natives Other islands of the Pacific—A fight with 
savage islanders at Traitor’s Head.'. .455-464 


CHAPTER XLV. 

Among the New Caledonians. —A fleet of canoes visits Cook—Character of the natives—Houses and boats of 
the Caledonians—Anchorage at Christmas Sound—Visited by the Fuegans—Killing of seal and sea¬ 
birds—Report of Captain Furueaux on the massacre of his men—Nine men slaughtered and devoured 
by cannibals—A horrifying spectacle—Departure for England.465-468 

CHAPTER XLVI. 

Captain Cook’s Third Voyage.— Determination that a southern continent does not exist—Expedition equipped 
to search for a north-west passage—An Otaheitan at the English Court—How he was received on 
his return to the islands—Shooting at a man to see how far a musket would do execution—Among 
the natives of Van Dieman’s Land—Further particulars of the massacre of Furneaux’s men—The 
story told by an eye-witness and participant—Savage fury of New Zealanders—Their conduct in battle 
—Cruelties to prisoners—A dance by beautifully formed women—Arrival at the Hapaee group—A 
wonderful entertainment at Hapaee—Female wrestlers and boxers—An extraordinary dance—A 
band of bamboo players—The female dancers punished for a false step . . .469-480 


CHAPTER XLVII. 

Reception by King Pouiaho. —Preparation of Kava beer—A feast in which Cook refused to participate—An 
entertainment witnessed by 12,000 natives—Initiatory ceremonies of royalty—Burial alive of crimi¬ 
nals—Intercourse with Fijians—War trumpets of the natives—Meeting between Omai and his friends 
—Otaheitan dead-house—Ceremony of offering a human sacrifice—Cook obtains permission to witness 
the rites—Description of the priestly service—Ghostly ceremonies—Consecration of the corpse—Pro¬ 
curing the sacrifice—The dead-house—Festivals at which numbers of humans are sacrificed—Differ¬ 
ences in dispositions north and south of the equator .. . 


CHAPTER XLVIII. 

A Dance by the King 9 Four Sisters. —A battle betw'een the natives—Departure from Otaheite—Discovery 
of the Sandwich islands—Characteristics of the Sandwich Islanders—A visit to the people of Nootka 
Sound—A trade that was profitable to both—Surrounded by canoes—A visit to a Nootka village—Ap¬ 
pearance of the interior of their dwellings—Inconceivable filth and degradation—Among the Esqui¬ 
maux, and death of Mr. Anderson—Killing sea-horses—Stopped by the ice—Return to the Sandwich 
islands Cook is made a god—Story of Oro—Visit to the Morai—Demeanor of the natives changed 
—Chief Terreeoboo visits Cook in state—Generous offerings . . 


CHAPTER XLIX. 

First Conflict with the Sandwich Islanders. —Thievery of the natives—In pursuit of the thieves—Circum¬ 
stances preceding and leading to the killing of Capt. Cook—A fight in the water—Death of Cook- 
Repulse of the mariners—Forcing a surrender of portions of Cook’s body - Slaughter of Natives— 
Desolation on the shore—Burial at sea of some of Cook’s bones—Extraordinary veneration paid to 
Cook’s remains—The monument to his memory—Departure of the expedition—Death of Captain 
Clerke—Among the Kamptschatdalers—Return of the expedition to England. 


CHAPTER L. 

Arctic Voyages. —Discoveries in the north by ancient navigators—First Arctic voyages—Fate of the Green¬ 
land settlers—Columbus in the Polar regions—.Spanish exploration in the north—Killingworth’s 
extraordinary beard—Frobisher’s strange discoveries—A fight between explorers—The loss of Sir 
Humphrey Gilbert Disappointment of John Davis—Astounding sufferings of a wrecked crew in the 
Arctic—Natural phenomena in the north -A roll of honor—Voyages to the North Pole . 









CONTENTS. 


29 




CHAPTER LI. 

Story of a starving Crew. —North-west Fox—Founding of the Hudson Bay Company—Everything frozen 
— Looking for a copper mine Cook and Clerke—Effects of the Revolution—Other explorers in the 
north—Discoveries of Parry' and Franklin—Last voyage of Franklin—Results of the Franklin loss— 
Captains who have reached the North Pole—Latitudes reached by famous Arctic explorers—The 
overland journey of Schwatka . . -V-a-a/v ■ 'p Vy\' • j (j ^ T. 

CHAPTER LII. 


Of 


521-528 


Voyages of Nordenskiold.— An attempt to make a north-east passage—A fleet of four vessels compose the 
expedition—Among the Sainoyeds—An abundance of animal life—Bodies of men and animals in 
shallow graves—A dance with Samoyed girls—Into an unknown sea—Tropical birds in the Arctic 
region—Some strange facts—Remarkable customs of Siberians— Among the exiles—The new 
Siberian islands—Vast quantities of ivory—Discovery of the bodies of mammoths—Meeting the 
Chuckchies—A Chuckchie feast—Bargaining for specimens of native handicraft—The approach of 
winter—The Vega frozen in—Removal of ship stores.529-537 


CHAPTER LIII. 

Winter Amusements. —Efforts to preserve the health of the men—Unpleasant familiarities of the natives — 

Fishing in cold w r eather—A Chuckchie potentate—Sending letters home —The centre of a strong odor 
—Scientific work of the expedition—The long dark winter—The January thaw—How the Chuckchies 
eat—A surprising scene—Daybreak after a winter’s night of six months—The snow bugs—Breaking 
up of the ice—The return home—First successful effort to find a north-east passage.53S-544 































®if 

Cfk 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


W W 


PAGE 


Ideal scene of Troglodytes, on the Red Sea 

Coast . 35 

A Phoenician Ship. 36 

Hamilcar along the coast of Britain. 40 

Fabled Mermaids of the African coast. 42 

Meeting of Carthaginians and Norsemen .... 46 

Norse Navigators. 48 

Godhaven as it now appears. 49 

Map of Greenland . 50 

handing of Erik. 52 

Tyrker found Garlanded with Grapes. 53 

Killing of Thorwald . 54 

Thorfinn’s voyage to the American shores ... 55 

Killing of the first Priest sent to America .... 56 

The Geysers of Iceland. 58 

Zeno off the coast of Friesland. 60 

Nicolo’s fleet in quest of new lands. 61 

Saved on the shore of an unknown world .... 61 

Murder of the Fishermen. 62 

The Cannibal feast. 63 

First meeting with the Irelanders. 64 

Zichmni landing on the shore of Labrador . - 66 

Tr^eme of India .67 

Vessels of the ancient Egyptians. 68 

Ancient Egyptian State Barge. 68 

Caravels of the fifteenth century . 69 

Satan’s hand upon the sea. 71 

Demons of the storm. 72 

A water-spout at sea. 74 

Neptune and the Siren. 76 

The Mermaid quitting the home of her husband. 78 

The Sea-serpent . 79 

The ghostly fiddler.82 

The Phantom Ship. 84 

St. Braudan on the island of Fiends and Phan¬ 
toms .87 

The market place of Mecca . . 91 

Chinese War-ship of the time of Polo. 93 

Nicolo Polo before the Khan of Tartary .... 94 

The sensual^Bradise of Aloadine. 97 

The city of (*jnul. 99 

Ruins of CaJcarum.100 

A Tartar bride.103 


PAGE 


Wild Sheep of Tartary.104 

Plan of Ciandu.105 

Astrologers on the palace roof.106 

Execution of Naiam.107 

Feast of the Cannibal Priests.108 

Avenue of Statues in Cambaluc.109 

Cambaluc as it appeared to Polo.no 

Burning the bodies of Idolaters.in 

Processional celebration of the Khan’s birthday . 113 

The Grand Khan starting on the hunt.115 

City of Mein and Tomb of the Emperor.120 

The Lion hunters of Cintiqui.121 

Bombardment of Sainfu.124 

The Empress Fanfur and her Barge.126 

Battle ships of the Cathayans.127 

Idolatry of the Japanese .129 

Fleet of the Grand Khan.130 

Bornean Unicorn killing a hunter.131 

John Cabot’s Flag-ship.136 

Fleet of Gaspar Cortereal.137 

Pinzon attacked by Indians.138 

Valiant fight of a Spaniard.139 

Balboa laying claim to the Pacific.142 

Beheading of Balboa.143 

Loyasa’s vessel pursuing a trackless course . . . 144 
Saavedra’s ship attacked by slingers ...... 146 

Villalobos landing on the Philippines.147 

Sack and burning of the capital of Zebu .... 149 

Encounter with Cannibals. 150 

Spaniards surprised and murdered by Islanders . 152 

The old palace in Lisbon.154 

Da Gama explains his purpose to Emanuel ... 156 

First passage of the Cape .159 

Capturing Hammer-head Sharks.161 

A messenger from the King of Calecut calls on 

Da Gama.164 

Da Gama before the King of Calecut.168 

Massacre of the captives.172 

Mohammedans attacking Da Gama . ...... 177 

Da Gama setting fire to the Pilgrim ship .... 178 

Destruction of the Khadija and all on board ... 180 

Bombardment of Calecut.182 

Spirits of Da Gama’s victims pursuing his ghost . 183 


(ao) 























































































LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 


O 1 


PAGE 


Bnrning of the Cuban Cacique.187 

Celebrating Mass in the Idol Temple of Cozumel 190 

Map showing the route of Cortez.191 

Slaughter of the Tabascans .193 

Cortez receiving the embassy from Montezuma . 195 

Offering of human sacrifices .199 

Destroying the idols of the Totonacs.201 

Slaughter of the Cholulans.211 

Cortez’ first view of the Mexican Capital .... 213 
Plan and surroundings of the City of Mexico . . 215 

Meeting of Cortez and Montezuma.216 

The fall of Montezuma.223 

The fight at the breach.225 

Mexicans sacrificing Spanish prisoners to their 

gods.232 

Capture of Guatemozin.234 

Torture of Guatemozin and the Chief of Tacuba . 236 

Ferdinand Magellan .243 

Paraselene seen at sea.245 

Perils of the deep.247 

Types of Patagonians.249 

The Patagonian shore.250 

Assassination of Mendoza.253 

Port St. Julian.254 

Magellan exploring the Strait that bears his 

name. 256 

Starvation confronts the crew.258 

The island Queen presented with a Looking- 

glass .260 

Heroic death of Magellan.263 

Murder of Serrano.265 

Driving wild cattle in Hayti.26S 

The capture of Tortuga.271 

Defence of the colonists. 272 

Ruins of Tortuga .276 

Cutting the heads off his captives.277 

English prisoners in the hands of the Haytians . 279 

Buccaneers capturing a Galleon.281 

A fight for life.284 

A battle with a Jaguar .286 

Raid of the Buccaneers.2S8 

Repu'se of the Cavalry charge.294 

Torturing prisoners . . . ..296 

Herioc defence by the Governor.298 

Morgan ordering his prisoners to scale the walls 

of Puerto Bello.299 

Blowing up the ship.301 

Disastrous explosion of the masked vessel .... 303 

A11 act of extraordinary heroism.305 

Wild Bulls in line of battle.312 

Morgan threatening the unhappy woman .... 314 

A messenger offers ransom for the lady.316 

Morgan rebuking his partner in crime.319 

Home of the reformed Buccaneer.333 

New Zealanders first seen by Tasman . ..... 336 

Tasman pursued by the New Zealanders .... 338 
An Amsterdam Girl. 339 


PAGE 

Abel Jansen Tasmar..340 

A Rotterdam Islander.341 

The shores of New Guinea.343 

Queen Elizabeth.346 

Sir Francis Drake.348 

Scene on the La Plata River.349 

Patagonians challenging Drake.351 

Savage attack of the natives.352 

Terre Del Fuegans fishing.354 

Loss of the Marigold.355 

Drake’s men killing Penquins.356 

Capture of a rich galleon.361 

Crowning of Drake by the King of California . . 365 

Canoes of the Pelew Islanders.368 

Royal barge of the King of Ternate.369 

The King of Ternate.370 

A woman of Booton. 372 

Javanese Canoes.373 

Queen Elizabeth being conveyed to the Golden 

Hind.375 

Queen Elizabeth knighting Drake.377 

Discovery of remains of Giants at Port Desire . . 381 

Cavendish surprised by Spaniards.382 

Patagonians fishing.384 

Capturing the despatch vessel.385 

A hot fight between Cavendish and the Spaniard . 386 

A lively trade with the natives.388 

Self execution of the Raj air’s wives.390 

Knyvet among the Cannibals.396 

Saved from starvation by a million of birds . . . 397 

Removing the sick and wounded.401 

A thrilling adventure on the St. Lucia.406 

Bougainville passing the Strait of Magellan . . . 407 
Incantations to relieve an injured boy . . . . 409 


Enthusiastic reception of Bougainville by Ota- 


heitans.411 

Otaheite harbor, where Bougainville anchored . 412 
Bougainville sighting the shores of Navigator 

Group.416 

Capture of a Catamaran.420 

Captain James Cook.424 

Sandwich Islanders supplying Cook with provi¬ 
sions .426 

Cook’s visit to the Terre Del Fuegans.429 

An Octopus attacked by Sea Gulls.430 

Reception of Cook by the Otalreitans.431 

Boxing and Fencing matches between Otaheitan 

Athletes.433 

A female dancer of Bolabola.437 

An attack by the natives.439 

Australian Boomerang dancers.441 

Astounded by the sight of Kangaroos .443 

Ministering to the sick scientist.444 

Running amuck.445 

Angling for Albatrosses.ff ' ‘ 44 ^ 

Scene on Van Dieman’s land . .1 . . 449 

A native lad assaulted by a goat.450 




























































































32 


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 




PAGE 

Procession of flute-players.451 

Feast of the Restoration .453 

New Zealanders fishing.456 

Cook’s visit to Easter Island.458 

Erect and prostrate stone idols.459 

The Giant’s head .460 

Foundations of the stone idols.461 

Wondrous ruins on Tinian Island.462 

New Caledonian hut.466 

Fight and massacre of Furneaux’s men .... 467 

Female dancers of Hapaee.474 

The female boxers of Hapaee.475 

Dance of the flower girls.477 

The grand dance in honor of Cook.482 

Ceremony of princely initiation.483 

A human sacrifice in Otaheite.486 

Fijians burying a prisoner alive. 492 

Eirneo being fed by his wives.494 

Sandwich Islanders surf-bathing.495 


Masked rowers of Sandwich Islands. 

Bark cloth weaving in New Zealand. 

Interior of a Nootka hut. 

Burial of Surgeon Anderson. 

Killing sea-horses among the icebergs ....... 

Cook in the harbor of Karakakooa bay. 

King Terreeoboo on his way to visit Cook . . . 

The killing of Captain Cook. 

View of the place where Cook was killed . . . . 
Monument to Cook on the Sandwich Islands . . 

Place of first settlement in Greenland. 

John Davis in the straits which bear his name . . 

Ice-fields of the Arctic. 

| Schwatka’s overland journey. 

A dance with Siberian girls. 

Walrus hunters in the Arctic. 

Nordenskiold visited by Chukchies. 

The Vega free. 


PAGE 

496 

497 

498 

500 

501 

502 

503 

507 

509 

5M 

5 i 8 

524 

527 

53 1 

532 
535 
543 




































Heroes 


OF 

Unknown Seas and Savage Lands. 


CHAPTER I. 

THE ROLLING STONE OF HISTORY. 

F all the surprising revelations of histor}^ the 
story which tells of the rise and fall, the 
creation and destruction, as it were, of com¬ 
merce, institutions, cities, peoples, is most 
remarkable. As conclusive evidences are 
shown of great cities annihilated by volcanic 
throes, resistless waves and devastating war,, 
leaving ruins of their splendor buried where 
only pick and shovel may reach; as nations 
that once flourished in power and magnifi¬ 
cence have been swept out of existence by 
cataclysm, plague and vengeful invaders, 
leaving deserts of desolation in their place, 
so have inventions, ambitions, occupations, 
disappeared with scarcely a relic of their 
former- existence. Not only are changes, 
violent, destructive, epochal, discerned in the works and institutions of man, 
but spasms of nature produce no less astounding results. Where are the great 
cities that once stood in unexampled splendor along the Nile, the Tigris, the 
Euphrates; where are the walled cities of ancient Canaan, the Jerusalem of 
200,000 souls, the cities on Galilee’s shore where our Lord preached and healed, 
which sent their 4000 ships to and fro upon its crystal waters; where are the 
ports of Tyre and Sidon of the Phoenicians that ruled the world, of Carthage 
that disputed with Rome, and the proud navies that bore their sails and 
shining oars on every sea? All have vanished so effectually that we can 
3 (33) 






34 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


scarcely think of an epitaph to place upon the grave-stones that mark their 
places of sepulture. 

And if so many cities and nations have perished within the brief period 
that historic annals measure, how many changes must have taken place in the 
life of the world since the foot of man was planted by God’s fiat in the Garden 
of Paradise? Is it unreasonable to believe that, as mankind is now distributed 
over all the earth, the present must be one of many like distributions ? If 
moving glaciers from the north once swept over all Europe and North America, 
and destroyed all forms of life in those regions, is it not within reason to 
suppose that some great cataclysm, or possibly a moving field of ice from the 
south, may have driven animal life towards the tropics ? And may we not also 
infer from the united evidences of lofty mountains, deep valleys, high table¬ 
lands, islands of the deep, active volcanoes and all the corrugations that now 
appear on the face of nature, that where land now is the ocean was once spread, 
and where deep seas now roll in perpetual unrest a verdant plain or forest- 
covered country once invited the energies of man ? 

RISE AND FALL OF NATIONS. 

In short, we must believe that what we call discovery is but reclamation; 
that every new shore approached is only re-discovery; that every fresh land 
which the explorer beholds is only one from which an earlier foot has retreated. 
History, like nations, has its periods of existence; as peoples disappear so do 
records, and a new cycle in human affairs begins. In the years to come maybe 
the steamship will disappear from the sea, the engine will cease its throbs, all 
inventions of man may be lost; then will another era in the world’s life begin : 
from the ocean will arise other continents ; out of a savage state man will emerge 
again, and the evolution towards a high civilization will be renewed, just as 
has been done in the measureless bygone ages, and just as in the endless ages 
of the future will be done again. 

As ruins of what were once great cities give indisputable evidence of their 
former existence, though history may not tell us how they were destroyed, we 
will now undertake to show that the new countries discovered by navigators in 
the past five centuries were formerly w'ell known, though we cannot understand 
the cause that destroyed this knowledge and left them to be re-discovered. 

CAVE-DWELLERS WHO BECAME MASTERS OF THE WORLD. 

In the region of Arabia we find the earliest traces of man. On the 
Euphrates he is believed to have had his birth, and from Ararat Genesis tells 
us Noah stepped forth upon dry land after the flood had drowned all except 
his own family. It is, therefore, no strange thing that in this region, along 
the Red Sea, navigation should have had its beginning. We are told that in a 
very early period of antiquity, the age of which cannot be set down, there 
existed on the shores of the Red Sea a race of people who dwelt chiefly in caves 
among the hills of the sea coast and subsisted by fishing; whatever attempts 
they made at erecting habitations were confined to the rudest possible struc- 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


35 



tures, such as the laying of a few branches together that would scarce give pro¬ 
tection either from sun or rain. They were known in the earliest times as 
Horites and Children of Anak, both of which designations have reference to 
their living in holes and caves. The Grecian name of Troglodytes , with which 
we are so familiar, is but a translation of the same name. But they were also 
called fish-eaters, locust-eaters, and wood-eaters, which is a manifest indication 
that they were separated from all other tribes. Being thus isolated, and regarded 


IDEAL SCENE OE TROGLODYTES, ON THE RED SEA COAST. 

as robbers or savages, and dependent upon the sea for their livelihood, they 
became inventive in applications for taking fish and undertaking voyages. Their 
earliest boats were made of reeds or papyrus, or other light material, cemented 
together with pitch. References are made to these people by Job and other very 
early writers. For some reason, which is not recorded in history, they finally 
emigrated from the shores of the Red Sea and settled in the land of Canaan. 
The father of these ancient peoples is known as Canaan, from which the word 
Canaanite is derived. Finding the country exceedingly fertile, they began pas- 






36 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


toral pursuits, that portion of the country extending from the Mediterranean to 
Lake Gennesaret being given over to that occupation. A much larger portion 
occupied the Mediterranean shores, and, beginning their pursuits of fishing, 
made larger boats than they had used on the Red Sea, and out of these evoluted 
the ships with which they made voyages to adjacent lands. They soon became 
known to the Greeks, whose country they visited, and by these were given the 
name Phoenicians, a designation derived from the Greek word for palms, great 
numbers of which grow in the Holy Land. 

BUILDING A STRONG NATION. 

The Phoenicians were a nation distinguished for their spirit of freedom 
and independence, by which they were alike actuated in Canaan and on the shores 
of the Red Sea; and being surrounded by hostile peoples, in the country to 
which they had emigrated and prospered they built great walled cities and 
immense fortifications, in which they found a perfect protection. Their commerce 
extending, they soon carried commodities to Egypt and to Greece, and to other 
^ ^ m nations occupying territory in 

the Levant. In the beginning of 
their navigation on the Mediter¬ 
ranean they made use of long 
ships, understanding the means 
of ballasting them so as to pro¬ 
vide security in case of storms, 
and, becoming familiar with the 
other nations of the country, they 
were soon looked upon as the 
most advanced people in the old 
world. For about six hundred 
years after Noah, the navigation 
of the Sidonians, which is but another name for the Phoenicians, extended 
to every port of the Mediterranean. Thus, we find early mention of Tar- 
shish, and of ports in Spain, a country which they seem to have partially^ 
settled. Moses mentions them frequently at the time when he accompanied the 
Egyptian King Sesostris in his great expedition through Asia and Europe, or 
about 730 years after the deluge, as Forster says, though I have not been able 
to find .any corroborative evidence that Moses was a part of any expedition sent 
out by Sesostris. 

While the best proofs that we are able to recover from history give the 
Phoenicians the credit of being the earliest navigators, there are other peoples 
who lay claim to the honor, the Greeks, the Egyptians, the Indians, each assert¬ 
ing that they were the earliest navigators and offering more or less evidence in 
support.of their pretensions. The people of India, or of China, set forth the 
claim that more than 2000 years before the time of Christ they had sailed along 
the entire coast of China, discovering the Islands of Japan, the East Indies, and 



A PHOENICIAN SHIP. 



UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


37 


directly after, making a passage through the Pacific Ocean, landed at Peru; and 
that they also crossed Brazil and set out in new ships for the Antilles to which 
they maintain themselves to be the first discoverers. There are some old records 
in China which seem to support these claims, and in which we read descriptions 
of the peoples of the New World, as the Chinese had found them; but they are 
so mixed with legend, and tradition, and myths, that little dependence can be 
placed upon any of the statements contained in the record. 

DISCOVERIES OF THE ANCIENTS. 

Berosus says that in the year 143 after the flood, Tubal came by sea to 
Spain; but he neglects to give any particulars of the voyage, undoubtedly 
because there are no records from which to gain the information; but his state¬ 
ment certainly rests upon some tradition which he had heard. Diodorus 
Siculus makes the assertion that, shortly after this time, Queen Semiramis 
made an expedition into India, and in the mouth of the river Indus gave battle 
to king Spabrobates and destroyed a thousand of his ships. We have another 
statement from Berosus that in 650 years after the flood, there was a king in 
Spain named Hesperus, who in his time made a voyage upon the ocean and 
discovered Cape Verde and the Island of St. Thomas; and Gonsalvo Hernandes, 
a chronicler of antiquities, affirms that in his time the Islands of the West 
Indies were discovered, and called after this king’s name Hesperides, in proof of 
which statement we have the report that these islands were discovered in a 
forty day’s sail from Cape Verde, in which time the passage might be easily 
made by the aid of favorable winds. More or less confusion necessarily arises 
out of the fact that there have been astonishing changes of the sea and islands 
in the past thousand years. 

The old geographers, as well as early navigators, located a large number 
of islands and gave to them names with which we are no longer familiar. 
But that a great many islands were discovered which have since disappeared 
there can be no doubt. The fact, therefore, that we have mention of such islands 
as those of Hesperides, De Principe, Antilles, Fortunate Islands, and hundreds of 
others, leads us into many difficulties; because some of these islands are now 
known to exist, while evidence of others is wanting. These may have subsided 
under the effects of great cataclysms, such as is believed to have destroyed the 
vast strip of land which is supposed to have at one time connected Africa and 
South America. Pliny observes that it is recorded in history (which however 
he neglects to name) that near the Straits of Gibraltar there was formerly an 
island called Aphrodisias, thickly inhabited and planted with many orchards and 
gardens, and showing other evidences of great prosperity and a high civilization. 
This island was known as Cadiz. But we have been unable to find any other 
mention made of it, and though it is said to have at one time joined with Spain, 
deep sea soundings now fail to show any such island or the probability of there 
having been one. The Islands of the Azores were also at one time said to join 
the mainland, and on which was a large town called Syntra. This has also 


38 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


disappeared. Eratosthenes states that Spain and Barbara were at one time 
connected, and that the Islands of Sardinia and Corsica were joined by a con¬ 
siderable strip of land, as was also Sicily with Italy, and Negro Ponto with 
Greece; and accounts have been given of the finding of the hulls of ships and 
iron anchors upon the mountains of Switzerland, very far from land, though that 
the sea could have ever swept in and covered mountain peaks so lofty at a com¬ 
paratively recent date is a matter impossible of belief. 

The land of Malabar, which is now a part of India and thickly settled, 
was at one time under the sea, while Cape Cormoran and the Island of Zealand 
were connected and composed one large body of land. Malacca and Sumatra were 
also joined, as is shown by Ptolemy’s frequent references thereto. So also did Su¬ 
matra and Java unite to form one very long island, while Borneo was connected 
with the mainland. These changes in the face of the land and sea within the 
period of history will necessarily confuse the reader when references are re¬ 
peatedly made to the islands by the names by which they were originally 
designated. 

THE COMMERCE OF TROY WITH INDIA. 

Troy is believed to have been founded 800 years after the flood, the people 
of which are said to have brought from India, by way of the Red Sea, spices, 
drugs, and other merchandise, and to have exchanged with the Indians pur¬ 
ples, linens, and other manufactured articles. A city called Arsinoe was at 
that time located where the modern Suez stands, and this place was a great 
port of entry for vessels passing out of the Mediterranean and Red Seas 
on the voyage to India. From this city also started caravans overland from 
northern Africa to cross Arabia; so that, though small mention is made of the 
place in history, these facts are sufficient to lend plausibility to the statement 
that it was a city of considerable commercial importance. 

Sesostris, king of Egypt, 900 years after the flood and some time before 
the destruction of Troy, caused a canal to be cut between the Red Sea and an 
arm of the Nile entering the river where the city of Heroum then stood. The 
building of this canal was conclusive evidence that a very large number of 
ships sailed constantly to and from India and the ports of the Mediterra¬ 
nean. 

By Strabo we also learn that King Menelaus, after the destruction of Troy, 
sailed out of the Straits of Gibraltar, coasted Guinea and Africa, and pro¬ 
ceeded thence eastward to India, this being the first account \Ve have of any 
circumnavigation of Africa. Neco, king of Egypt, sent an expedition to dis¬ 
cover a passage through the Red Sea about the time that Menelaus dispatched 
an expedition by way of the west around Africa. The vessels of Neco passed out 
of the Mediterranean into the Red Sea, and sailing down the coast of Africa, 
continued until they had doubled the cape, passing up the westward coast, and 
again entered the Mediterranean at Gibraltar. Thus was Africa circumnavi¬ 
gated by two fleets, sailing in opposite directions, at nearly the same time. 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


39 


SOLOMON’S NAVY. 

Thirteen hundred years after the flood, as the Bible tells us, Solomon 
built a very large navy on the Red Sea at a haven called Ezion Geber, from 
which a voyage was made to the islands of Tharsis and Ophir. This fleet 
was absent three years on its voyage, and returning each vessel brought a 
rich cargo of gold, silver, and precious wood. Many historians maintain that 
this fleet sailed to Peru where the riches brought back by them were obtained, 
while equally creditable writers believe that the voyage was to the kingdom of 
Sofala on the East Africa coast, and ruled over by the Ethiopic queen Sabea, 
or Sheba. 

Aristotle tells us that in the year 590 before Christ, the Carthaginians 
sent out a fleet of several vessels, which sailed westward until they discovered 
the West Indies and New Spain. Whether they sailed along the coast of Bra¬ 
zil or entered upon an exploration of the Antilles, we are not told. Unfortu¬ 
nately, the records in all these cases are exceedingly brief, being no more than 
a bare mention of facts. 

Xerxes, king of Persia, 485 years before Christ, sent his nephew, Sataspis, 
on a voyage in a search of a route to India. The nephew sailed out of the 
straits and proceeded southward along the coast as far as Guinea. But his 
superstitious fears being excited qn account of a wind which prevailed several 
days in a favorable direction, which he feared would carry him over the edge 
of the world, he turned back, and forfeited his life to the irate king in con¬ 
sequence. 

HAMILCAR’S VOYAGE TO THE NORTH SEAS. 

Himilco, or Hamilcar, and Hanno his brother, 443 years before Christ, both 
Carthaginian generals, but at the time residing in a portion of Spain now 
called Andalusia, set out on two voyages. Himilco sailed towards the north, 
and discovered the northern coast of Spain, France, England, Holland and 
Germany. It is also believed that he proceeded as far north as Iceland. He was 
absent two years, and attained a latitude where the cold was so severe that he came 
near perishing with his crew. He certainly discovered some island in the extreme 
north to which has since been given the name of Purgatory of St. Patrick, be¬ 
cause he found people thereon who received him with signs of hostility, which 
they manifested by cries and groans. He states that the island had three vol¬ 
canoes which continually belched forth fire, but that, strange enough, the fire 
which emanated from one of these would not burn, while that from another 
would consume even earth itself. He also relates that he discovered there two 
fountains, one of which was like melted wax and always boiling, and anything 
thrown therein would be almost immediately turned into stone. He noticed on 
the island also such animals as bears, foxes, hares, crows, falcons, and other 
birds and quadrupeds, and also cattle, while the grass grew so rapidly that it 
yielded several harvests each year and was so succulent that the cattle browsing 
thereon had to be forcibly taken from their repasts to prevent them from burst- 


40 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


ing. He describes also having seen most remarkable fish, not only mis-shapen, 
but of such enormous size that from their bones and ribs a church had been 
built, and that a sight of one of these monstrous fish frightened his mariners 
into a condition of panic. 

ASTOUNDING ADVENTURES OF HANNO. 

Hanno, the other brother, sailed along the African coast southward and 
discovered the Fortunate Islands, which might be the Canaries, and others, such 
as Dorcades, Hesperides, and the Gordades, which are now called the Cape 
Verde Islands. He was absent for a period of five years, discovering a great 
many islands and countries, and giving names to them, but which fail to designate 
any present known lands. He also reports meeting with strange adventures 



HAMITCAR ATONG the COAST OF BRITAIN. 


and witnessing mysterious sights, among which were wild men whom he dis¬ 
covered along the banks of a river up which he sailed a few miles. These 
men he represents as being covered with hair, but tailless, and of proportions 
greatly exceeding that of an ordinary man. From the description which he 
gives, we must believe that he saw a troop of gorillas, many of which have 
been found in the section of Africa which he then visited. He also reports 
having seen from his vessel a burning mountain, not a volcano, but a vast 
mountain which seemed to be on fire, shooting its flames up for hundreds 
of feet day after day, as he witnessed it, without any signs of consumption. 
At one place also, having made land in a dark night, he perceived curious lights 
flitting over the water and through the trees, and heard mysterious and ghostly 








UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE EANDS. 


41 


voices whispering in a strange tongue. These sights inspired the crew which 
accompanied him with such fear that they made precipitate haste for the boats, 
and immediately set sail from a land which they believed to be infested with 
the spirits of the damned. 

At Cape Bona Sperenca (Esperanza), Hanno came in contact with a people who 
he declares were great witches and enchanters of snakes, which they brought into 
their service and placed as sentinels to guard their churches and grave-yards, 
and cattle, and other possessions. He asserts that the people declared to him that 
any invaders of their property would be immediately attacked by the snakes, 
which, winding themselves about them, would hold them prisoners until the 
master came to punish the trespassers. In case the invasion was made by 
some large quadruped, as elephant, rhinoceros, lion, or other dangerous beast, 
Hanno states that these sentinel snakes would proceed at once to the hut 
where the master lived, and give information of the dangerous presence by 
stroking him. He relates also a curious incident, that while one of his men 
was lying in a hut in a native village, he heard a great noise as if some one 
was striking heavy blows, which inducing him to rise, he went out and de¬ 
manded the cause of the disturbance. Thereupon he was answered by one of 
the natives, that it was his cobra snake that had been calling him. 

AMONG THE MERMAIDS. 

Upon the sea coast, this courageous explorer also maintains to have found 
certain fishes which swam upright in the water, and had both the faces and 
natures of women, and with whom the fishermen of the coast became so well 
acquainted and familiar that these mermaids were frequently induced to come 
on shore and occupy the huts of the natives for a time. 

Hanno, at the expiration of five years, completed a circumnavigation of 
Africa, and made report of all the astonishing things which he had seen, for 
which his king rewarded him in the most generous manner, and caused his 
name to be perpetuated in the history of his country. 

VOYAGE OF PYTHEAS, THE PHILOSOPHER. 

The Greeks became active in discovery and an extension of their commerce by 
sea in the fourth century before Christ, and about 340 B. c. they sent out an 
expedition under the navigator and philosopher, Pytheas, of Marseilles (the 
ancient Masillia of the Ionians). The real purpose was to follow the fleet of 
Hamilcar, and to discover, if possible, the source from which the Carthagin¬ 
ians secured their great stores of tin and amber, which Hamilcar was known 
to bring from some region in the north-west. Much was expected of Pytheas, 
who was distinguished for his knowledge of astronomy and who was first 
to ascertain the moon’s influence on the earth and the true cause of the tides, 
nor was such expectation disappointed. He was not able to find the tin mines 
of Britain, but continuing his voyage northward, he found along the shores of 
Norway vast deposits of amber, which he reported the people of that country 
burned instead of wood. He also declared that amber was “ a coagulated matter 


42 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


cast up by the sea,” a statement which gave creation to the superstition that this 
substance was the petrified tears of sorrowing sea-birds, as Tom Moore relates 
in his Lalla Rookh; and again, as the tear drops shed by the sisters of 
Phaethon, the giddy youth who having received permission of Sol (the Sun) his 
father to drive his chariot one day, started out at such a pace that he set the 
world on fire, and was drowned in the river Po for his recklessness. Amber 
has since been ascertained to be a vegetable resin, that exuded from forest trees 
which are now extinct, and which is found in large deposits in many parts of 



FABLED MERMAIDS OF THE AFRICAN COAST. 


Scandinavia, attached to fossilized trees which form a stratum of bituminous woods 
beneath beds of sand and clay. 

But while the discovery of this precious vegetable gum served to greatly 
elate the voyagers it did not cause the immediate return of Pytheas, as the 
ambitious philosopher had a mind to make his fame more enduring by great 
geographical discoveries. Proceeding therefore northward Pytheas discovered an 
island which he called Thule (the most northerly land), which many of the 
geographers claim was one of the Shetland Islands, while not a few others 
maintain it was Iceland, which became the Ultima Thule of subsequent 









































































































UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


43 


voyages. By the latter, who base their arguments on the old maps which the 
learned philosopher brought back to Marseilles with him, Pytheas after depart¬ 
ing from the northern land turned his ship in a south-westerly course until he 
came to another strange country, which was no other than our own America. 
Tradition also relates that Pytheas took some of the natives of the New World 
back with him to Marseilles, but as the records which he left were lost in the 
fifth century, small dependence can be placed on the reports concerning his 
discoveries. 

A WONDROUSLY PROFITABLE COMMERCE. 

Strabo and Pliny both make mention of an enormously profitable trade be¬ 
ing inaugurated by Ptolemy Philadelphus, King of Egypt, between his country 
and India, which resulted in making Alexandria the richest city in the world. 
In the time of this king (300 b. c.) this traffic is said to have yielded an¬ 
nually in customs alone the enormous sum of seven millions and a half of 
gold, according to the authority of Strabo. If crowns are meant, the sum in 
American money was $43,500,000. This is almost inconceivable, yet the same 
writer declares that a few years later, when Rome became master of Egypt, the 
custom revenues from this trade with India was doubled, and that one hundred 
and twenty ships were engaged in the commerce, which made the trip in a 
year. Pliny, dwelling on the magnitude of the exchange, confirms the statements 
of Strabo, for he says: “ The merchandise which these ships carried amounted 
to 1,200,000 crowns ($6,960,000) and there was made in return of every crown 
an hundred. In so much, that by reason of this increase of wealth the 
matrons, or noble women, of that time and place spent infinitely (fabulous 
sums) in decking themselves with precious stones, purples, pearls, gum, benzoin, 
frankincense, musk, amber, sandalwood, aloes, and other perfumes, and trinkets 
and the like.” 

A NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. 

If our profound surprise be excited by a recovery from ancient history of 
the fact that there was a profitable maritime commerce carried on between ports 
of the Mediterranean and India, and that the Red and Mediterranean seas were 
connected by a canal to facilitate this trade, while as late as the 15th century 
the ambition of navigators was directed towards finding a water route to India, 
how much greater must our astonishment be to learn that a northern passage 
from Europe to India was accomplished 200 years before the birth of Christ. 

Strange as the statement may appear, we have it upon the authority of 
Antonio Galvano, the Portuguese historian, that the Romans, having made them¬ 
selves masters of all Europe, Northern Africa, and the countries of Western Asia, 
sent an expedition of many sail against the Khan of Cathay (China), which 
country had been represented to them as abounding in wealth, and hence promising 
great spoil to successful invaders. The ships carried a large army prepared for 
any dangerous enterprise, and sailing out through Gibraltar took a northerly 
course, and passing by the English and Shetland shores, the great tin mines 


44 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


from which the Carthaginians procured their supplies of tin were rediscovered. 
The expedition continued northward, and rounding the coast of Norway, set their 
course directly eastward. Thus they continued to Behring Strait, through 
which they sailed, and finally reached Cathay which the Roman soldiers success¬ 
fully invaded. The Khan was defeated in every battle, cities were looted and 
then destroyed, and lading their vessels with the treasure captured the Romans 
returned to their own country by the southern route. 

DESTRUCTION OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 

The Romans continued to rule the world and carried on an overland trade 
with India and China, until their own country was invaded by the Norsemen 
and Moors in about 412 A. d. when Rome capitulated. The Romans continued 
to wage war against the invaders, however, until 474 when the Empire passed into 
the hands of the fierce Norsemen. 

For several hundred years the spirit of discovery had been quiescent, the 
far outlying lands were neglected because they had not been a source of revenue, 
and in the long lapse of time they were forgotten. History was but a puling 
infant, geography was in a nebulous state, the world was only emerging from 
savagery, hence we cannot be surprised that the splendid discoveries of the ante- 
christian period should in a large measure be lost again to the nations that made 
them. 





CHAPTER II. 

VISIONS OF THE PAST. 


the glories and ambitions of the past are 
connected with the present by a link that is as 
unmeasurable as is that which binds us to the 
future. If we look towards the future the vista 
is a short one, and we meet a quick darkness 
that rolls up before our vision like boiling 
clouds of inky hue. If we set our eyes to 
pierce the past we may look down an avenue 
of no inconsiderable extent, but the view ends 
in no less certain darkness, and the mind re¬ 
mains equally unsatisfied whether we look 
toward the west or the east of human life. 

The generation that is contemporaneous 
with the telegraph has clasped hands with that 
which never heard of steamboat or locomotive, 
and thus hastening backward but a few paces, or life periods, we meet with those 
who were thrilled with the news of another world discovered beyond the Atlantic. 
But behind the century that enlarged the world by one-half, lie commercial 
nations whose thousands of vessels ploughed the limited seas. Twenty-five hun¬ 
dred years ago the Phoenicians, the Zidonians, and the Tyrians carried on a trade 
of fabulous importance by means of ships that covered the Mediterranean. Then 
Carthage—established by Tyrians nearly 1000 years b. c. —grew grand with her 
white sails mirrored in almost every wave of the sea, and retained her maritime 
importance until the second Punic war, or about 200 b. c. when Rome drove 
her commerce from the sea, and fifty years later the city was destroyed by 
Scipio the Younger, and its site ploughed and sowed with salt, while the last three 
hundred survivors were sold into slavery. Carthage in her glory had sent her 
ships not only to every port on the Mediterranean and up the Nile, but they sailed 
out through the Gates of Gibraltar, around the west coast of Africa, up the Niger 
River, then back and along the high coasts of Europe, and to the Azores where 
the Carthaginians and Norsemen met in valorous rivalry. 

In the eleventh century Venice rose like Venus from the sea, and from 
the lagoons into which Attila had driven the people, not only a magnificent 
city sprang into being, but a maritime power of unrivalled proportions grew 
into existence and which continued in undisputed mastership of the sea until near 
the end of the 14th century when in a war with Genoa she was brought to the 
verge of ruin. But from the calamities which befell her she soon rallied and 

(45) 










4G 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 



which were the battlements of Satan rising up to dispute with heaven for the 
souls of the dead. Pythagoras in the sixth century, and Plato, Aristotle, and 
other great philosophers and geographers taught the sphericity of the earth, yet 
a belief in their theory never obtained a substantial footing, and up to the 
Middle Ages it was not only popularly opposed by the people but rejected by 
many distinguished writers of the Augustan Age. 

Formaleoni claims that the Venetians discovered the West Indies prior to 
Columbus. But not only long anterior but even in the Middle Ages there was 
a belief very general in the existence of fabulous islands in the Atlantic, and 
out of the legends connected with them very largely grew the many super- 


reached the climax of her prosperity in 1423, and which she retained until 
the discovery of America by Columbus diverted her commerce into new channels 
and she gradually declined ; lastly Napoleon destroyed her independence in 1797 
and she became a shuttlecock for the battle-doors of Austria and Italy. 

BELIEF RESPECTING THE EARTH’S SHAPE. 

But though sails had long whitened the great sea, and adventurous spirits 
had penetrated African wilds and the wondrously rich regions of the far east, 
the condition of the most advanced nation was deplorable for ignorance and 
superstition. From the time of Homer to that of Columbus, the world was 
believed to be a plain covered with a hemispheric dome, on the outer edges of 


MEETING OE CARTHAGINIANS AND NORSEMEN 



UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


47 


stitions connected with the sea. Of the several mythical islands which had a 
prominent place in early beliefs, a few only of the 25,000 which Ptolemy 
assigned to the Atlantic may be mentioned. There were the Eternal Islands, 
island of the Two Sorcerers, island of Bimini, on which was the fountain of 
youth, Saxonburg, where the fates lured sailors to shipwreck, the islands of 
Happiness, and Fortunate islands. Then there was the “ Island of the Hand of 
Satan,” mentioned by Formaleoni and also by Humboldt, and there was Antiilia 
and Satanaxio with a strait between mentioned by Beccarrio, and the Island of 
the Seven Cities, which is believed to have been Brazil. There is, indeed, a 
map in St. Mark’s library at Venice, drawn in 1450, whereon Brazil is repre¬ 
sented, and Humboldt shows that Brazil-wood was imported into Europe from 
the East Indies long before the time of Columbus. Brazil was formerly placed 
a hundred leagues west of Ireland, and was called Vanishing Island, because 
while people implicitly believed in its existence, the reports of its discovery 
having been so well verified, yet numerous expeditions in quest of the same 
failed to reach its shores. This is the incomplete and unsatisfactory record of 
the expeditions which are supposed to have sailed westward from Mediterranean 
shores. 

THE VIKING NAVIGATORS. 

The preceding are hardly better than traditions, in which little or no con¬ 
fidence can be placed. But there was a people in the north, occupying Nor¬ 
way, a race that had been driven out of Asia by Tartar hordes and which had 
wandered westward until they found a lodgment in the Scandinavian Peninsula. 
These Norsemen were a bold and warlike people, who set about immediately* 
founding a nation which they established so firmly that it has endured to this 
day. Their restless disposition did not permit them to long confine themselves 
to the country whereon they had established themselves as a nation, for living 
chiefly by conquest they attacked the nations of the south, carrying their inva¬ 
sions through England (which then belonged to France), and into northern Spain. 
Nothing was able to arrest their progress, and they moved westward, making 
themselves masters of Italy, Greece and Sicily. At first heathens, they after¬ 
wards embraced Christianity, and led the van of the crusaders in the war for 
the recovery of the Holy Land. But while a portion of the nation was en¬ 
gaged at war with Greece, Italy and France, other bold spirits had set out 
on the high seas, encouraged by their victories over the French in England, 
and sailed in quest of new lands. They soon also distributed themselves in 
colonies on the islands that were then known as the Faroes, Hebrides, Ork¬ 
neys, and Shetland Islands, and directly became the most adventurous as well 
as accomplished sailors of the age. They discovered Iceland in about the year 
860, though it is maintained by some writers that the Greek philosopher, 
Pytheas, first set foot in Iceland, which he called the Ultima Thule; but rest¬ 
ing there for a short while he extended his voyage westward until he had 
traversed the Atlantic and landed on American shores about 340 before Christ, 


48 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


as already explained. There is very little history, however, in support of this 
claim, though the tradition is deeply implanted. 

The second discovery of Iceland is due undoubtedly to a Norwegian pirate 
named Naddodd, who had been carried out of his course by a tempest on a 
voyage which he was making to the Faroes. We have also a tradition to the 
effect that early in the sixth century King Arthur visited Iceland and con¬ 
quered its inhabitants, which were said to have been Irish. This, like other 
traditions, however, is scarcely to be credited, although there is considerable 
proof which historians cannot wholly ignore that both the Irish and the Welsh 



NORSE NAVIGATORS. 


made expeditions to America in about the seventh century. Indeed, St. Brandan, 
Abbot of Cluainfort, Ireland, who died in 577, is said to have spent 70 years 
in two unsuccessful voyages in the company of 75 monks, in quest of an 
island which inspiration told them was a land promised to the saints. This 
fabled country, which might have been Brazil, was not found, but the great 
Abbot is said to have discovered two very large islands, one of which turned 
out to be the back of a huge fish, as the pious annalist relates. 

Shortly after the discovery of Iceland, a considerable immigration into that 
island from Norway was begun, and in 874 it is said to have had 50,000 in¬ 
habitants, notwithstanding the fact that its shores are desolate and always ice 
























UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 49 

bound. There was also much in Iceland to excite the superstitious fears of the 
people, where geysers were perpetually boiling, and volcanoes were belching up 
their flames as if in an effort to set the heavens on fire. Here too the north¬ 
ern lights scintillated and flickered with ominous import, and gave creation to 
numerous legends respecting the gods of ice and winter winds. 

DISCOVERIES OF ERIK THE RED. 

About the year 976, Erik the Red (red-head), whom we must believe was 
a distinguished man in his country, was banished from Norway on account of 
a murder which he is said to have committed, and he sought an asylum in 


GODHAVEN AS IT NOW APPEARS. 

Iceland, to which so many of his people had emigrated a hundred years before. 
But here he was also shortly afterwards outlawed in a public assembly, and 
condemned to banishment. He then fitted out a ship, and went in search of a 
land which tradition reported had been seen to the north. This voyage was 
begun in the year 984, and was so propitious that he quickly landed in the 
new country and there remained for a period of two years, at the end of which 
time he-returned to Iceland, with glowing descriptions of the land which he 
had discovered and to which he gave the name of Greenland. He reported that 
its shores were verdure-clad, but the belief is that the name was given in order 


4 















50 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


to attract favorable attention to the country, in which he hoped to found a 
colony. The result was that, as- he had anticipated, large numbers of Ice¬ 
landers and Norsemen emigrated to Greenland and there founded a flourishing 
colony at the point where Gotthaab, or Godhaven, is now situated, which not 
only endured for a long time, but was so prosperous that it was made subject 
to the crown of Norway. Leif, a son of Erik, returned to Norway in 999, and 
finding his country converted to Catholicism, he also embraced the faith, after 
which he took a priest with him and returned to Greenland where he built 
several churches, the ruins of which may still be seen. 



The Norsemen, as we have said, were excellent navigators, though they had 
no charts or compass to sail by, but were able to direct their course by a knowledge 
of the stars; they had, too, the most admirable sea-going vessels which, besides the 
mse of sails, were propelled by oars, yet were capable of crossing the sea in the 
stormiest weather, though of course not comparable with the crafts which are 
ploughing the Atlantic to-day. I11 one of the Sagas of old Icelandic history 
we have an account of these, in which the keel is represented to have been one 
hundred and forty feet long, the material used in its construction was of 

























































































unknown seas and savage lands. 


51 


the choicest, and it was provided with thirty-four rowing benches, while the 
stem and stern were covered with gold. While this description is by no means 
complete, it affords us an excellent idea of the character of the vessels which 
they constructed, and incidentally their sea-going qualities. 

DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. 

Having established such a successful colony in Greenland, Erik the Red 
in one of his voyages between the two countries met with a disaster which 
fortunately ultimated in the discovery of America. One of the several vessels 
which he had laden with provisions for trade with the colonies was driven by 
a storm so far south-westerly out of its course that the crew came in sight of 
the coast of a country nine days’ sail from Greenland. During this time the 
ship was enveloped in such a fog and mist that at no time within the nine days 
was the sun to be seen, or was daylight or darkness distinguishable. When at 
last the sun appeared there lay before their astonished gaze an unknown land 
which they knew was not Greenland, because the shores of that country were 
characterized by high mountain peaks, and rugged and bleak scenery, while 
the land before them was level, verdant, and inviting. But instead of landing, 
so eager were they to join the other vessels, which had in the meantime 
reached Greenland, that the commander, whose name was Bjarne, continued 
sail, and on his return passed the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador, and at 
last made land at the port in Greenland. While it is impossible to exactly 
determine the land which Bjarne saw, from the length of the voyage, direction 
of the currents and appearance of the land, as well as the length of days that 
are noted, it is more than probable that the shores sighted were Nantucket— 
which is one degree south of Boston—Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. Upon 
this fact the claim is'based that Bjarne was the first European whose eyes be¬ 
held the shores of the American Continent. A report of the discovery having 
been made to Erik, that bold rover organized an expedition, and with thirty-five 
companions set out in quest of the new country about A. D. 1000. The voyage 
was propitious, and he found and sailed along the coast for several miles, giv¬ 
ing to it at first the name Markland, or Woodland, which corresponds with. 
Nova Scotia of to-day. But finding no suitable harbor he set out again in the 
open sea with a south-east wind, and two days later re-discovered land, and 
put into a sound. This he found very shallow at ebb tide, so that the ship 
stood dry, and he was unable to pass the mouth of a bay which he saw be¬ 
fore him. But in their eagerness to get on shore the Norsemen, clothed 
in sealskins, flung themselves into the water, and with shouts of glee 
set foot upon the most verdant land they had ever beheld. When the 
tide was high they sailed as far up the bay as the water would permit, and 
casting anchor, they built huts upon the shore in which to pass the winter. 
They found salmon in great plenty in the waters, and through the winter 
lived chiefly on this food. But one of the early incidents connected with the 
landing, as related by the Sagas, is to the effect that among the company was 



52 UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 

a German named Tyrker, who being the most impetuous of the crew, was not 
only the first to reach the land, but who made a bold incursion into the un¬ 
known country, passing out of sight into the woods where he remained for 
such a length of time that Erik feared that he had been killed by Indians, 
which they had seen on shore. But towards evening the German returned, 
bearing in his arms a great quantity of grapes, a fruit which was quite 
familiar to him, but was unknown to the Norsemen. He soon explained to 
his companions, however, the value of his discovery, and they found such great 


LANDING OF ERIK. 

abundance of this delicious fruit that Erik gave the name Vinland to the 
country. Thus Leif Erikson was the first white man, of whom we have any 
positive knowledge, that set foot upon the American Continent, if we except 
the German who accompanied him. 

THE KILLING OF THORWALD BY NATIVES. 

In the following spring Leif returned to Greenland, making such report 
of his discovery as greatly excited the Norsemen and infused in them a desire 











UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


53 



for further exploration. Thorwald, who was a wealthy brother of Leif’s, 
equipped and placed a vessel at his command, in which an expedition was sent 
out in the year 1002. It is recorded in the Sagas that the party remained on 
the coast of Vinland for a period of three years, and would have doubtless con¬ 
tinued longer but for an unfortunate event, which resulted in the death of Thor¬ 
wald. The Indians, or as some maintain, Esquimaux, which were called Skrael- 
lings, on account of their dwarf¬ 
ish stature and withered appear¬ 
ance, were very numerous and 
hostile, and at the end of three 
years, while the company were 
preparing ampler huts for res¬ 
idences, they were attacked by 
these Skraellings, an arrow from 
the bow of one of which pierced 
Thorwald’s eye, giving him a 
mortal wound. The Skraellings 
were repulsed, but the Norse¬ 
man chief realizing that he had 
but a few moments to live, gave 
his last instructions to his com¬ 
panions, admonishing them of 
the necessity of maintaining a 
union that no divisions could 
separate; for it was his hope 
that the company would con¬ 
tinue to occupy the country and 
form a permanent settlement, 
which he had an ambition would 
become of great advantage not 
only to themselves but of com¬ 
mercial importance to his coun¬ 
try. As death was closing his 
eyes, he begged that he might 
be buried there, and that his 
grave might be designated by 
two crosses, one at the foot and the other at the head, which request was carried 
out. His was the first death and burial of a European in America. In proof 
of this, the Sagas are confirmed by the finding of a skeleton in armor in ihe 
vicinity of Fall River, Mass., in the year 1831. It is a known fact that it 
was the custom among Norsemen to bury their warriors in their armor and 
with all their war implements about them; and an anatysis of the armor which 
was thus resurrected proves to have been identical with metal used in the com- 


tyrker found garlanded with grapes. 









54 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


position of the armor of the Norsemen of the tenth century. It also corre¬ 
sponded with them in style, so that there is no ground for disputing its Norse 
origin. 

The death of Thorwald was such a severe blow to the expedition, that 
instead of carrying out his wishes, the members loaded their ships with the 
products of the land, and returned to Greenland in the year 1005. 

In the same year that the expedition returned, Thorstein, son of Erik the 



KILLING OF THORWALD. 


Red, in addition to a desire to recover the body of his brother and give it 
burial in his own country, was anxious to make another expedition into Vin- 
land, of which the most wonderful reports had been given by the returned 
crew. He had recently married a lady in Greenland, Gudrid by name,, who is 
distinguished in history as much for her beauty as for her wealth. She seems 
to have inspired or increased the desire of her husband to visit Vinland and 
there set up a colony. Thorstein accordingly fitted out a vessel, taking with 
him twenty-five select men and his wife, and set out to sea on a visit to the new 


















UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


land. But through the whole sail they were tossed by tempestuous winds and 
waves, and after a voyage of more than three months were driven again onto the 
shore of Greenland, where Thorstein and several of his men died, and Gudrid 
returned to her native town of Eriksfjord with his body. 

PROOFS OF NORSE SETTLEMENT IN AMERICA. 

Two years later, or in about 1006, Thorfinn Karlsefne, who is reputed to 
have been a very wealthy man and a descendant from the most distinguished 
families of Norway, visited Eriksfjord in two ships, bringing with him many 
rich presents to Lief Erikson, and was offered in return the hospitalities of 
that now distinguished man. Thorfinn soon met the beautiful Gudrid, and 
falling in love with her, besought Leif to secure for him the right of betroth- 



HORFINN’S VOYAGE TO the AMERICAN SHORES. 


ment, which the custom of the country seems to have required. Thorfinn’s 
courtship progressed so favorably that he soon married the fair widow, at 
whose solicitation he organized another expedition and set sail for Vinland in 
the spring of 1007, accompanied by his wife and 151 men and seven women, 
and carrying with them several cows, sheep, goats and horses. 

The voyage was attended with no difficulties, and in a reasonably short 
time he reached Vinland, where he established a comfortable habitation and 
made his home for a period of three years, during which time Gudrid bore her 
husband a son which she named Snorre. This was the first white child born 
in the New World. The colonization was completed, notwithstanding the hos¬ 
tility of the Skraellings, whose attacks were common and serious, yet the party 














56 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 



was a brave one and was soon increased by the arrival of others and additional 
live stock, but Thorfinn and Gudrid returned to Greenland in 1010. 

The most conclusive proof of this expedition is found, not only in the 
historical descriptions given in the Sagas, but by the discovery of what is called 
the Dighton Writing Rock, which was found in the 16th century on the very 
spot where the Norsemen had built their huts and set up a tower. Its base is 
covered by Runic inscriptions and Roman characters, in which is a printed 
record of the fact that here landed a company of 151 Norsemen, the account 
of the company being given in Thorfinn’s name. In the lower left hand 
corner of the inscription on the rock is also a figure of a woman and child, 


KIU.ING OF THE FIRST PRIEST SENT TO AMERICA. 

and also the letter S, which Prof. Rafn declares signifies the birth of a son 
to Gudrid. 

CHURCH RECORDS AND THE KILLING OF A PRIEST. 

In addition to the proofs furnished by the Sagas, there are records in the 
Vatican at Rome which tell us that this colony was provided with a priest 
named Jon, as a guide for its religious instruction, and who was murdered by 
Indians whom he had approached in the missionary spirit. The death of this 
first pioneer priest was followed by the sending over of two others, and soon 
afterwards a bishop was appointed to the church which had been founded in the 
New World. In the same records it is related that directly after Cudrid’s return 




UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


57 


to Greenland she proceeded to Rome and announced to the Pope the colonization 
of Vinland, and no doubt also represented to him the necessity of providing the 
colonists with a priest. It may also be added that Gudrid went to Iceland after 
her visit to Rome and entered a Benedictine convent which had been built there 
by her son Snorre, and continued in the seclusion of this nunnery until her 
death. The historian Riant tells us that the Crusades were preached in America 
in the year 1276, and as Peter’s Pence was collected from the colonists and sent 
to Rome, it is more than probable that some of the hardy spirits joined the 
Crusaders’ ranks, leaving their Vinland Home to fight for the Holy Sepulchre. 

The last mention made of the Vinland colonists in the Sagas is the bare 
statement that in 1347 a vessel was sent from Iceland to the new country for 
a cargo of building-timber. Up to this time the colony had certainly flourished, 
and the cause of its sudden disconnection with civilization is an unanswered 
question. Very singular to relate, while Greenland had enjoyed an equally 
prosperous intercourse with both Iceland and Vinland, there is no record of the 
colonies after the close of communication with those who had settled in Vinland. 
The cause of this interruption and discontinuance is not easy to positively 
determine, though by no means difficult to conjecture. We know that in the 
13th century this commercial intercourse was seriously disturbed by a royal 
mandate from Norway, which declared that such trade should thereafter be a 
monopoly of the crown, and which immediately restricted this commercial rela¬ 
tion, and possibly led very soon to its destruction. 

DISAPPEARANCE OF THE COLONIES. 

About the middle of the 14th century the Esquimaux imperilled the colo¬ 
nies in western Greenland, and a growing hostility may have culminated in 
their abandonment of the inhospitable country. But in addition to this, the 
Black Plague which overran Europe about this time and destroyed, as is esti¬ 
mated, twenty-five millions of people, also invaded Iceland and Greenland, and 
as communication had been kept up with the Vinland colonists until this time, 
it is not unreasonable to suppose that the plague extended also to them. If so, 
it is probable that the colonists were either totally exterminated hy the Plague, 
or so reduced that the survivors becoming discouraged left their new homes, 
and returned either to Iceland or to Norway. A phenomenon also occurred in the 
14th century immediately preceding the spread of the Black Plague. Great 
cataclysms in China sunk nearly a tenth part of that country under the waves 
of the Pacific, and volcanic eruptions destroyed thousands of peoples, buried 
cities out of sight, and opened vast chasms in the earth from which emanated 
noxious vapors that poisoned the atmosphere, and prepared the way for the 
plague which soon followed. There were also violent eruptions in Iceland, 
which changed the configuration of that land, and extending across to the 
shores of Greenland threw up a barrier of ice there which might have remained 
impassable for many years. Thus, confined within a Polar region, unable to 
raise sufficient sustenance from the soil, and cut off from communication with 


58 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


other countries, the Greenland colonists might have perished. These, however, 
are but suppositions, though so reasonable as to lend plausibility to the belief 
that the total and final interruption of communication, as above stated, was due 
to the absolute destruction of the people. Whatever causes led to the extinction 
of the Greenland colonists must have practically resulted in the destruction of 



THE GEYSERS OP ICELAND. 


those of Vinland, as the two were bound together by both commercial and 
national ties; and unless the Vinland colonists had been self-supporting, which 
it is unfair to suppose, since they were not an agricultural people, the cutting- 
off of relations with the civilized world must have affected them disastrous^, 
and so reduced their numbers as to have made the survivors an easy prey to 
the savage Skraellings. 



























CHAPTER III. 

DISCOVERY OF AMERICA BY ZICHMNI AND ZENO. 



N about 1390, Nicolo Zeno, a distinguished and 
rich navigator of Venice, equipped a vessel 
from his own resources, and set out to make 
himself acquainted with the least known as 
well as the unknown countries of the earth. 
He sailed out from Gibraltar and thence for 
England and Flanders, but being overtaken by 
a storm, which continued with the greatest 
^severity for several days, he was driven out of 
his course, and at length cast upon the shore 
of an island which he called Friesland, but 
which is now known to have been one of the 
Faroe group. He and his crew fortunately 
gained the shore, but their presence becoming 
known, a large bod)r of natives armed with 
bows and lances rushed down from the hills and attacked them. Their hostile 
intentions were presently restrained, however, by their chief who, ordering them 
to retire, approached Zeno, and addressed him in Latin. This chief, whose name 
was Zichmni, proved to be a bold rover from the north, who had defeated the 
King of Norway in a great battle on the high seas, and then coming to these 
islands with a fleet of thirteen vessels had established himself there as a ruling 
prince ; and observing at once that Zeno, who was a skillful navigator, might be 
serviceable to him, Zichmni treated him with the greatest courtesy, and per¬ 
suaded him to act as pilot to an expedition which he was upon the point of 
sending to other islands, with the purpose of taking possession of them also. 
The fleet set sail in due season, and the ambitions of Zichmni were fully realized, 
but what islands he thus overcame is not a matter of record. 

In the following year, upon receipt of a letter from Nicolo, his brother 
Antonio fitted out a ship and proceeded at once to Friesland, which he reached in 
due season; and directly afterwards the two accompanied Zichmni in an expedi¬ 
tion against the Shetland Islands which were then held by the Norsemen. 
Their vessels were very rude crafts, only two of which were propelled by oars, 
and finding that the chief island of the group was so well fortified and defended, 
they gave over their ambition to possess it and directed their attention against 
seven of the smaller islands which soon capitulated, on one of which Zichmni 
built a fort, and leaving it in charge of Nicolo, returned with Antonio to 
Friesland. 


( 59 ) 






GO UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 

A SURPRISING DISCOVERY IN GREENLAND. 

In the succeeding year Nicolo, in pursuance of his original intention to see 
as much of the world as possible, fitted out three small barks in which he 
sailed to Greenland. Upon landing on its shores he was surprised to find a 
monastery and a church, dedicated to St. Thomas, located near an active volcano, 
which he declares sent forth fire, like Vesuvius and ^Etna. He also makes 
particular mention of a spring of hot water emanating from the volcano, which the 

friars conducted to their monas¬ 
tery and used for heating their 
building, cooking their food, and 
other like serviceable purposes. 
By the use of this hot water, 
which the}- distributed by means 
of pipes through the soil, they 
were enabled to bring into cub 
tivation a considerable parcel of 
land which would otherwise have 
been perpetually covered with 
ice and snow. In this fruitful 
garden they produced flowers, 
herbs, and fruits of many kinds, 
such as are generally to be 
found only in the high tempera¬ 
ture of tropical countries; so 
that the rude and savage peoples 
of Greenland, seeing these sup¬ 
posed supernatural effects, re¬ 
garded the friars as gods, to pro¬ 
pitiate whom they made many 
offerings of chickens, meats, and 
other things which they were 
able to procure in that bleak 
country. * After a pleasant stay 
of some months in Greenland, 
Nicolo returned to Friesland, 
where he soon after died from 
honors which Zichmni had con¬ 
ferred upon his distinguished brother, but though he often made request for 
permission to return home, the prince would not give his consent, estimating the 
great value of his services in new enterprises which Zichmni was continually 
conceiving or putting into execution. 

CASTAWAYS ON THE SHORES OF A NEW WORLD. 

Within a year after the death of Nicolo, Zichmni proposed dispatching an 

















UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


61 



expedition under Antonio in quest of certain exceedingly rich islands which were 
represented to lie five hundred leagues to the west. The story of these westerly 
islands, as related by Antonio in a letter to his brother Carlo (the information 
being obtained from a fisherman who 
claims to have visited them), is to 
this effect: Twenty-six years before, 
four fishing boats put out to sea from 
Friesland, but encountering a heavy 
storm were helplessly driven for 
many days until at length they were 
cast upon an island called Estotilan, 
which they reckoned to lie west of 
Friesland between one and two thou¬ 
sand miles. One of the boats was 
wrecked, and six men who survived 
the disaster reaching shore were 
taken by the inhabitants and brought 
to a populous city and there ques¬ 
tioned by the King. But being unable to understand their language, the ruler sent 
for many interpreters from whom one was at length obtained who understood the 
Latin language, which it happened that one of the fishermen too could speak. By this 


NICOLO’S FLEET IN QUEST OF NEW LANDS. 



SAVED ON THE SHORE OF AN UNKNOWN WORLD. 


means a conversation was carried on between the King and the fishermen which was 
of great advantage to both. The survivors told the King of the country whence 
they had come, of its wealth and importance, and in turn were kindly invited 











UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


62 



to remain in the country. There they were treated with great consideration 
which induced them to remain on the island for a period of five years, during 
which time they acquired a thorough knowledge of the language of the new 
people. One of the fishermen visited different parts of the island, and reported 
that it was an exceedingly rich country, abounding in all good things ; that while 
it was smaller than Iceland, it was very much more fertile, and in the middle 
of it was a very high mountain out of which rose four rivers that watered the 

entire country. This island, as 
a map drawn by one of the 
fishermen clearly shows, was 
Newfoundland. The survivors 
also represented the inhabitants 
as an extremely intelligent peo¬ 
ple, who possessed arts similar 
to those in use among the na¬ 
tions of Europe; and that they 
had had intercourse with peo¬ 
ples in Greenland or Iceland 
was evident from the fact that 
in the king’s library were to 
be seen many Latin books, these 
affording additional evidence of 
the claim that the Catholics had 
sent priests to instruct the early 
Norse settlers of that region, 
whose religious works were. 
printed in that tongue. At the 
time of the fishermen’s visit, 
the people had still an inter¬ 
course with Greenland whence 
they imported furs, brimstone, 
and pitch. 

CAPTURED AND EATEN BY CANNIBALS. 

The King told the fisher¬ 
men that towards the south 
murder of the fishermen. there was a great and yet more 

populous country very rich in gold, that the people there planted corn and 
made beer, that they lived in pretentious buildings having walls of stone, and 
that many towns and villages were established on and near the coast. They used 
small boats with sails, but having no compass, directed their vessels solely by 
the stars. 

The King regarded the fishermen with so much favor, that on one occasion 
he sent them with twelve boats to the southward to a country which he called 














UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


63 


Drogio, which (by consulting this very ancient map) leads to the belief that 
Drogio was either Massachusetts or North Carolina. The voyage, however, ter¬ 
minated most disastrously, for experiencing contrary weather, the voyagers 
were at sea for such a length of time that their provisions were quite ex¬ 
hausted, and encountering a storm were at length driven on shore where they 
were taken by the natives, and all but one cruelly massacred and eaten; for 
the savages with whom they came in contact were cannibals, and considered 
human flesh the most savory of meats. The survivor, being an accomplished 
navigator, was spared in order that the savages might be taught the art of fish¬ 
ing, in which he made himself so valuable to them that he soon became a bone 



THE CANNIBAL FEAST. 

of contention between the tribe which captured him and hostile neighboring peoples. 
A war directly followed between the savages of the north and those with whom the 
survivor was an enforced visitor, and the former prevailing, the captive was 
taken towards the north where he served his captors until a more powerful 
tribe captured him again. He dwelt in this region for a period of thirteen 
years, during which time he was captured no less than twenty-five times by 
warring chiefs whose sole incentive was to secure the services of the white 
survivor. 

THE AZTECS OF MEXICO. 

The people of the lower country were represented as very rude and un¬ 
cultivated, who went naked, having not even the sense to clothe themselves 








04 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 



with the skins of animals which they captured in the chase. They were also 
extremely fierce, and after a contest with one another, invariably ate the slain. 
Yet further south of these the survivor represented the climate as temperate 
and the people as more highly cultivated than any found in the north. “ They 
reside in great cities, and temples dedicated to their idols, in which they sacri¬ 
fice men and afterward eat them. In these parts they also have knowledge 
and use both of gold and silver.” This description, we may observe in pass¬ 
ing, so well suits the Aztecs of 
Mexico, that we must believe 
the information which the fish¬ 
erman derived came directly 
through an intercourse which 
the northern tribes had with 
their more southerly neighbors. 
The fisherman finally made his 
escape, and after many delays 
and dangers, and other threat- 
enings, he reached the country 
of Drogio, where he was wel¬ 
comed and kindly received by 
the chief of the place, who gave 
him protection for a period of 
three years. At the end of this 
time, some boats arrived off the 
coast, and on landing he solic¬ 
ited and obtained passage on 
the return voyage to Estotilan 
from which the boats had come. 
He acted as interpreter for 
the crew, and after making sev¬ 
eral voyages to Greenland, be¬ 
came so rich that he fitted out 
a vessel and returned to Fries¬ 
land with an account such as is 
first meeting with the irei.anders. here reported. 

ATTACKED BY THE IRELANDERS. 

It was this story which induced Zichmni to equip an expedition and send 
it in quest of the new land, in charge of Antonio. At the last moment be¬ 
fore the fleet set sail, however, Zichmni decided to accompany the expedition 
himself, so that Antonio was not given the chief command as he had expected. 
The vessels sailed directly westward, and coming at length to an island 
named Ledovo, remained there seven days to refresh the crew and furnish the 
fleet with necessaries. Departing thence under a 'favorable wind, they made 





UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


65 


great progress until the fleet was attacked by a great storm which lasted for 
a period of eight days and destroyed several of the smaller boats. This, 
however, in no wise discouraged Zichmni, who repaired his battered and scat¬ 
tered fleet as well as possible, and sailed on under a prosperous wind, at last 
discovering land on the west. The storm had so driven him out of his course 
that instead of sailing westward, as he had supposed, he had made the north¬ 
erly coast, and struck land at Ireland which he called Icarie, supposing it to 
have been an unknown island. There they were attacked by the savage 
islanders, who set upon them with such rage that many of the crew were 
slain, and the fleet was forced to set out immediately to sea to save it from 
destruction. 

Getting the points of the compass again, he sailed westward and then 
south-west, and discovered land two weeks afterwards; but at what point the 
historian has not been able to tell us. He found great quantities of fish and 

sea fowl, and an abundance of birds’ eggs, which were highly appreciated by 

the half famished men, and which were taken in great stores aboard the vessel,, 
thus preparing the expedition for another cruise. Going on shore and exploring 
the country a short distance, the soldiers who were a part of the expedition, 
discovered a spring from which issued a substance resembling pitch, and along 
it a great multitude of people half wild living in caves. Their stature was very 
small, and they were so timid that at the sight of the soldiers they fled quickly 
into their holes. The country appeared so favorable, the soil being good and 
watered by a large river, that Zichmni conceived the idea of fixing his habita¬ 
tion there and founding a city. But to this his people objected, saying they 
had been subjected to so many fatigues and dangers that their one desire was 

to return to their own homes, as winter was about to set in, and if delay were 

now made, they would not be able to reach home before the following summer. 
Zichmni was nevertheless so determined in his intentions that he retained only 
such row boats as might be spared from the vessels, and with the few that were 
willing to remain with him, he set about constructing a habitation, and sent 
the other ships back to Friesland under Antonio. 

AMERICA THE LAND UPON WHICH ZICHMNI SETTLED. 

It is related that Zichmni settled near a harbor of his newly discovered island,, 
and explored the whole country, but was unable to find either gold or silver. 
Nor did he make any considerable progress in the cultivation of the soil. This 
latter information, however, comes entirely from tradition, as nothing further 
was ever heard directly from Zichmni, who probably perished, either from cold, 
or was killed by the hostile savages who were known to occupy the country 
north of him. Many historians maintain that the island or country upon which 
Zichmni thus landed was Greenland. But the best evidence obtainable is favor¬ 
able to the claim that he reached the coast of Labrador; though this would 
have been hardly possible in a two weeks’ sail from Ireland. The reckoning of 
time by the early explorers was not always exact, and it is probable that the 
5 



UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


G6 


voyage westward lasted considerably more than two weeks. There is no country 
which answers so well to the description of that upon which Zichmni is said to 
have landed as Labrador, and certainly in no wise answers to that of Greenland. 

It seems to have been characteristic of the pre-Columbian voyagers to call 
all new lands islands, and every stream of water, however small, was to them a 
river. In Labrador there are several rivers, and three of considerable size, while 
the southern part is somewhat mountainous, so that it answers to the descrip¬ 
tion which Antonio gave. As there is no land, not even an island, lying between 
Ireland and Newfoundland, the conclusion is irresistible that Zichmni landed 
either on Newfoundland, Anticosti, or Labrador, and his disappearance with the 
men who remained with him, was no doubt due to causes identical with those 
which obliterated the Vinland colonists. ^ : 

We have presented in brief, in the fore¬ 
going pages, all the record that is supposed 
to exist of the important voyages of discov¬ 
ery undertaken previous to that of Colum¬ 
bus,* and though the proof appears conclu¬ 
sive that America was discovered and visited 
many times by different peoples from Europe, 
hundreds, if not more than two thousand 
years before the time of Columbus, yet the 



ZICHMNI LANDING ON THE SHORE OF LABRADOR. 


country had lapsed into a terra incognita , and its re-discovery at the end of the 
fifteenth century was therefore an event in no wise lessened by the fact that its 
shores had been visited before. In the one case it was a discovery only to lose, 
while in the other it was re-discovery to permanently possess, and in the latter 
the real honor lies. 

After the celebrated voyage of Columbus, discovery went on apace, the ocean 
became the centre of attraction for hundreds of bold spirits, the ambitions of 
whom were fostered by Spain, Portugal, England, Holland and France, each of 
.which entered upon a race to reach new lands for purposes of acquisition and 
enrichment at the expense of the poor natives. 

A history of the distinguished voyages following after that of Columbus 
is given in subsequent chapters, from the discovery of San Salvador to the 
reclamation of all the countries and islands of the Western Hemisphere, together 
with descriptions of the primitive peoples that occupied them. 




CHAPTER IV. 


EARLY NAVIGATORS AND EXAMPLES OF THEIR MONSTER VESSELS. 

HOSE who have little familiarity with the 
gigantic accomplishments of very ancient 
peoples, and who make their estimates of 
civilization from the lofty plateau of the 
nineteenth cenUiry, stand amazed before 
evidences of greatness equalling our own 
which has long since passed away, and which, 
except to those who are able to read the al¬ 
most faded record, left no memorials of their 
existence. Thus the casual reader will de¬ 
clare that a passage of the Atlantic was im¬ 
possible before the days of Columbus, because 
even at that period ship-building had produced 
nothing beyond the caravel, a craft in which 
only the most venturesome would trust them¬ 
selves. But if surprise and doubt has been 
excited by the revelations herein made respect¬ 
ing the exploitations of pre-Columbian navigators, let wonder at their achieve¬ 
ments subside when the facts are made to appear that even our largest modern 
ocean steamers scarcely exceed in size some of the vessels that were built 
thousands of years ago. 

The Ark, whatever may have been its shape, from dimensions given must 
have had a tonnage of 15,000, not 
quite so large as the Great Eas¬ 
tern , but fully 4500 tons greater 
than the City of Paris , which is the 
mammoth of existing ships. And 
a singular fact herein also appears, 
viz.: that the Ark was, according to 
Scripture, 450 feet in length, 75 feet 
in breadth, and 45 feet depth of hold, which are the identical proportions of our 
best modern vessels. 

But if there be some who refuse to accept Biblical authority, their doubts 
that the ancients built ships of gigantic size must be dissipated before well 
authenticated facts of profane history which I will here introduce: 

Egypt is a country remarkable for its stupendous works; but the greatness 

(67) 

















68 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 



VESSEL OF THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 


and resourcefulness of the Egyptians are not only to be seen in pyramid, 
obelisk, sphinx and colossus, for sculpture and hieroglyphic reveal the nation 
in marvellous advancement. Thus, in one of the ruined palaces of Thebes, 
there is a stone which was originally a facing of the exterior, on which, among 
other heroic sculpturing, we perceive a representation of Rameses III. (about 
1250 b. c.) watching a naval battle, in which the Egyptian fleet is engaging 
the battle-ships of the Shardana and Takkara, and from the number of galleys 
shown, some of the vessels must have been of very great size. 

Ptolemy IV., Philopator (b. c. 222 ), was an enthusiastic admirer of the 

navy, in which he placed 
the greatest reliance as 
the chief defence and pro¬ 
moter of the interests of 
his kingdom. Of the 
many large ships which 
he constructed, the di¬ 
mensions of one have been preserved to history, and were as follows: 
Length, 420 feet; breadth, 57 feet; and from keel to highest point of poop-deck, 
72 feet. This immense vessel was propelled by 4000 rowers, besides which she 
had a crew of 3000 marines, and a great number of servants. The oars used 
in propelling her were 67 feet in length, and with handles loaded with lead, so 
that they balanced so perfectly that a child might easily move them. She was 
also provided with four steering oars, 45 feet long, which swung upon pivots with 
equal facility. To afford space for the 2000 rowers on each side, the ship’s 
decks were terraced into five banks, so that 400 rowers sat on each deck, which, 
if true, must have 
necessitated the 
use of oars of diff¬ 
erent length for 
each bank. His¬ 
tory, after describ¬ 
ing this monster 
ship, mentions the 

fact that she was launched and used on more than one occasion for display, 
but it is doubtful if she was ever put to any useful service. 

Another ship, called the Thalamegus, was built by the succeeding Ptolemy, 
which, while somewhat restricted in dimensions to 300 feet in length, 40 feet 
beam, and 60 feet from keel to top-deck, greatly exceeded the former in 
bewildering magnificence. Callixenus, the Alexandrian historian, gives us an 
intimation of her splendor by saying that she was provided with colonnades, 
marble stairs and hanging gardens. 

Hiero, king of Syracuse (307 b. c.), was also a distinguished patron of 
ship-building. At the opening of the second Punic War, he built and sent to 



ANCIENT EGYPTIAN STATE BARGE. 


















UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


69 


sea a great fleet, and afterwards had constructed a vessel which for size, con¬ 
venience and perfection of details, may favorably compare with the finest and 
largest vessels of our own times. From the imperfect and too brief descriptions 
left by historians, we learn that Hiero’s great ship had three cabins, or decks, 
the lowest, which was really the hold, being for freight, the second for soldiers 
and a dining saloon, and the upper used by the officers for quarters, and as a 
promenade-deck. All the floors of the rooms and cabins were artistically laid 
in mosaic work of colored marble-, and in the grand salon, which was in the 
after-part of the main cabin, there was a gracefully carved temple beautifully 
inlaid with ivory and gold, and dedicated to Venus. The extraordinary size of 
this vessel, in the absence of recorded dimensions, may be reasonably conjectured 
by the aid of such facts as are given. The mainmast is said to have been made 
of a single tree, which might readily have been done, as masts were short in 
all the early ships, and 

carried only a single sail. h i A l 

Her freight capacity is de- a * im<r2% 

dared to have been sixty 
thousand measures of corn 
(40,000 bushels), ten thou¬ 
sand jars of Sicilian salt 
fish, twenty thousand tal¬ 
ents’ weight of wool, and 
twenty thousand talents’ weight of bulk cargo, the whole being equal to about 
11,000 tons, which is 500 tons greater than the largest craft now in service; 
but in addition to her capacity as a carrier of merchandise, she carried two 
launches on her deck, each with a capacity of eighty tons, besides vast stores 
of provisions, and four wooden and eight iron anchors, all of which are suggestive 
of a size far greater than her capacity would appear to indicate, and beside 
which the caravels of Columbus’s time would hardly assume the importance 
of yawls. 

Under these revelations, we must admit that the galleys and triremes 
(three-banked and many-decked ships) of the so-called ancients, so often re¬ 
ferred to, were but coasting boats, and that they were not in fact such ves¬ 
sels as composed the great navies of ancient Egypt, Phoenicia, Carthage and 
Greece, either for war purposes or for extended voyages. 



CARAVELS OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 



CHAPTER V. 


SUPERSTITIONS WHICH LONG DISPUTED THE PROGRESS OF DISCOVERY. 


UPERSTITION holds mankind in chains that time can never 
break, even though it be an inheritance of ignorance, a 
stamp of primitive conditions, and a badge of servitude to 
harsh advantages. It is the slavery of mind to the uncon¬ 
sciousness of surroundings, and as we have not yet a clear 
intelligibility of all things in nature, so are all persons at¬ 
tainted with a fear which lack of comprehension embodies 
with the supernatural. But for this relic of the original 
ignorance of man, civilization would be a thousand, perhaps 
ten thousand, years in advance of what it is. At every 
knock at the door of knowledge, early man heard the growl of superstition, 
and though the bold heart of investigation dispelled the monster, yet courage 
is not always infectious, and thus has every step in advance been disputed and 
retarded by evil creations of our timid minds. 

If exploration of unknown lands has been prevented by tales of goblins 
damned, of which early writers never grew weary of depicting to affright 
emerging intelligence, how much greater must have been the effect of stories 
about nameless monsters which were said to have their haunts in caverns of 
the sea. And how much more was the fear thus excited intensified by monkish 
confirmation of such reports, until a belief in their existence became almost a 
cardinal principle of pious faith. If therefore we feel surprise that an explor¬ 
ation of every habitable portion of the globe was so long deferred, let 'us re¬ 
flect upon the true cause, that it was the ghostly and frightful hand of Satan 
uprising with fell purpose, or guarding a realm that had its boundary where 
the landsman saw the horizon dip down to the sea. As these limits were ex¬ 
tended, a fright of grim-visaged creatures peopling the ocean beyond took 
the place of Satan’s hand, so that every league covered was like a deeper 
plunge into demoniacal horrors, a challenge to wrathful fiends that might 
not only kill, but torment the soul also. 

The wide, nay universal prevalence of wild beliefs particularly common 
in the Middle Ages, and their influence upon early voyagers, whether com¬ 
manders or common sailors, render a chapter on sea superstitions not only 
appropriate, but a necessary introduction to a history of maritime discovery, 
to the end that my readers may be acquainted with the important effects 
of the terrifying beliefs which operated to the great disadvantage of ex- 

(70) 



UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


71 


plorers on the high seas, and to show how fearless and reckless must have- 
been the men who sailed in the face of these supposed supernatural dan¬ 
gers in quest of unknown shores. 

THE AWE OF BOUNDLESS PERSPECTIVE. 

No man is more superstitious than the sailor; no man has better reason 
to entertain superstition. The sailor is always in the presence of the sublimest 
spectacle the eye of man can behold; he is surrounded by mystery and awe. 
The boundless extent, the unfathomable depth of the ocean, fill the mind with 
amazement; the changing hues of sea and sky in times of calm, present a scene 
of most exquisite beauty, while the roar of the tempest is the most terrible sound 
that can fall on the human ear. The shifting clouds of the tornado, writhing 
and twisting like demons contending in the sky, the mountain waves crashing 
on the deck in watery avalanches, the movements of the tides, astounding from 
their immensity, marvellous from their regularity ; the wonders of the winds, now 
as changeable as a maid¬ 
en’s fancy, now steadily 
blowing from one point 
for months at a time ; the 
whirlpool, drawing down 
ships as though they 
were straws; the water 
spout, the fury of whose 
fall the stoutest vessel 
often in vain resists; the 
mysterious currents of the 
ocean, great rivers which 
drive ships to and fro in 
spite of helm, sail or 

.... . . ^ SATAN’S HAND UPON THE SEA. 

steam—all these tend to 

lift the fancy to the highest point and prepare the mind for ready belief in the 
supernatural. 

DANGERS OF AN ANGRY OCEAN. 

The imagination of the sailor, feverish from the contemplation of such 
astounding wonders, is further excited by the real dangers to which at all times 
he is exposed. There is but a plank between him and eternity, and a frequent 
realization of that fact tends to heighten the feeling of sublimity with which 
the sailor contemplates the sea. The vessel on which he floats is but a speck 
in the immensity of watery space, and however dull and unintelligent he may 
be, he cannot but feel the insignificance of man and man’s contrivances in the 
presence of Nature’s greatest wonder. However calm the sea may be, he 
cannot but feel that it is the repose of measureless strength and that the placid 
waters about him cover the remains of thousands who braved Old Ocean in 
his might. For the sea is one vast charnel house. The few that dare the 








72 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


passage of the main are but a handful to the myriads who slumber in its 
bosom. The earliest sea tales are of shipwreck; the earliest mariners made 
the ocean their winding sheet. Every storm claims its victims; every wind 
levies toll on human life and treasure. The power of man cannot curb the 
tempest; human skill is fortunate if, by its most adept exercise, it contrives to 
-evade the fury of the blast. Old Ocean to-day rises in his might and drives 
man howling to his gods as in the days when Thor was supplicated in vain 
by the Norsemen who, in open boat, braved the anger of the billows. 

IMAGINATION OF THE SAILOR. 

The sea is the sailor’s cradle; he looks to the time when it shall be his 
grave, so it is not strange that when he gazes from the bow of his ship into 



DEMONS OP THE STORM. 


the blue waves beneath, the eye of superstition should people the deep with 
unnatural forms; it is not wonderful that in the circling clouds he should 
behold the arms of demons stretched out to seize his vessel; that in the 
moaning of the tempest he should hear the voices of sirens luring him to 
destruction. Surrounded by mysteries, he readily imagines more than have 
an existence, and supplements the wonders of the sea with the creatures of 
his own heated fancy. Imagination is ever active, and the less certain the 
knowledge the more room for a flight of fancy. The early sailor had no 
scientific knowledge of the ocean’s population, saw a little and imagined more. 




UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


73 


He noted the crawling things drawn up by the net, cast on the shore by the 
storm, stranded by the tide, so hideous, so diabolically repulsive in their ugli¬ 
ness, and imagined far more than he saw. The sea has no bounds; why 
should it not contain monsters which, in size and hideousness, are to these 
what these are to the insects which float in the stagnant pond. Thus he peo¬ 
pled the vasty depths with frightful creatures. He saw himself and his vessel, 
after the utmost carefulness and skill, playthings of the elements, and con¬ 
cluded that he was the sport of chance, the plaything of destiny. 

PORTENTS OF SAFETY AND DISASTER. 

But, in sailor theology, God is good, and fate, though pitiless, never strikes 
without giving notice of the impending blow. Thus the old time sailor be¬ 
lieved in signs—signs of the coming storm, of the approaching shipwreck. 
To him everything had a meaning. He availed himself of that curious weather 
wisdom characteristic of many animals and birds; the gull gave him notice of 
a change in weather; the stormy petrel followed his bark during the wildest 
hurricane; the albatross brought him calm. He carried the idea further: rats, 
so troublesome iu dock and on shipboard during a voyage, were endued by 
him with greater foresight than he himself possessed ; they deserted his ship 
before its last voyage began. Following the example set by the most ancient 
navigators, he divined by means of moon and stars; carrying with him to sea 
the superstitions of the land, he deefned Friday unlucky because it was the 
day on which the Crucifixion took place; Sunday fortunate, for it was the day 
of the Resurrection. 

The sailor of the olden time was a curiosity. All remember him as 
depicted in the novels and romances of Dana and Marryatt and others ; his 

bronzed visage, his eyes habitually half closed to elude the mingled glare of 

sun and sea; his chin whiskers grizzled with age and salt spray, his wide 
breeches, which he hitched up with one hand before starting on some un¬ 
usually important undertaking ; his quid of tobacco rolled into his cheek, his 
sea slang, his garrulity, his never ending stock of narrative, his love of the 
marvellous, his contempt for the land-lubber; we all know him, and love him 
too, in spite of his oddities. He is not quite extinct; occasional samples of 
him may be seen on the sailing vessels drawn into our ports by the puffing, 
bustling, hurrying tugs, the hackmen of the ocean which prowl up and down 
before our harbors waiting for a fare. When found, he is a treasure to the 

antiquarian and the story teller. In the busy brain beneath that bronzed and 

wrinkled front he has stowed away ten thousand odds and ends of superstitious 
fancy; bits of old time beliefs and practices which have come down through 
the ages; the flotsam and jetsam of a time when astrology was the only 
learned profession. He believes it unlucky to meet a woman on his way to 
the ship, for as Eve brought all evil into the world, so one of her descendants 
will, in some unaccountable fashion, cause mischief during the coming voyage. 
Nor does he speak of a land ahimal while fishing, for this would he unlucky; 


74 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


land animals go about on foot, while fish have no feet, and although this may 
not be a sufficient reason, his superstition needs no other. 

SINGULAR VAGARIES AND CONCEITS. 

As a rule sailors are afraid to go to sea in a ship in which any one has 
been killed, for the killing, whether by accident or design, leaves a blood stain 
on the ship which can never be washed out, and one death is a premonition 
of many. Nor will he ship on a vessel of which the name has been changed; 
according to his creed, a change of name is unlucky for everything in nature 
except a woman; nor row in a boat which has once been overturned, for a re¬ 
currence of the accident is ab¬ 
solutely certain. He dreams of 
shipwreck and deserts, lest his 
dream come true; he is afraid 
of a ship the name of which 
begins with a letter S or O, 
for he can recall a long list of 
vessels whose names began with 
these unlucky letters, and every 
one came to some sad fate. He 
is curiously inconsistent, for 
while a ship named for a saint 
is lucky, the festival of the saint 
is* an unlucky day, and if he 
can help himself he will neither 
begin a voyage nor do any but 
absolutely necessary work on a 
holy day. He goes back into 
the history of the ships in 
which he is interested; if a 
man was hurt or killed at the 
launching of the vessel, he is 
certain ill-luck will follow it 
and all on board. He reviews 
its building; if the first stroke of the hammer drew fire from the nail, the vessel 
whose construction was thus unluckily begun is certain to be burned. He consid¬ 
ers his own actions and those of others in the highest degree significant. A sneeze 
is always fortunate; before the time of Noah, no man sneezed but once, for the 
shock always killed him; but after the days of that patriarch, the children of 
men, as a special favor, were permitted to sneeze as often as they pleased, 
provided that in memory of the former evil consequences -they should accom¬ 
pany the act with a benediction; hence, the old sailor sneezes with great 
gusto, and the other old sailor by his side says: “God bless you,” after each 
sneeze. To cough is unlucky; to spit, even more so, save on his hook, and 




UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


75 


the worst luck of all is to have a quarrel with his wife before starting. He 
will not throw overboard a burning coal, though why he cannot for the life 
of him tell; nor will he mend his clothing when the winds are contrary. He 

will whistle during a calm to raise a breeze, and when the breeze is blowing 

will curse the whistlers, lest by their musical efforts a storm should be pro¬ 
voked. He will not tell the number of fish he has caught, nor will he thank 
you for asking him, nor admit a white stone as ballast into his fishing boat. 
When he goes for herring he will toss a penny over the bow, and before leav¬ 
ing the shore will see that his boy is handy to throw an old shoe after the 
departing boat. When on his way to his craft he will turn pale at seeing a 
footprint in the sand, and when in the offing will turn his boat from left to right 
so as to go with the sun. He will not turn a loaf of bread upside down, nor 
begin a voyage without some salt in his pocket. He has a horror of rice, 
which he terms “ strike-me-blind,” and will not under any circumstances eat 
the heart of a fish. He has unlucky days besides Fridays, and the saints’ 
days. The first Monday in April is bad, it was Cain’s birthday; the second 

Monday in August is worse, for on that day Sodom and Gomorrah were 

destroyed; the thirty-first of December is the worst of all, for on that day 
Judas hanged himself. To work on St. Peter’s Day is extremely unfortunate; 
St. Peter is the patron of fishermen and sailors, and desires that they keep 
his festival as a holiday. He has a horror of the thirteenth of each month; 
it is the Devil’s Day. On the principle “ the better the day, the better the 
deed,” he considers Sunday the most lucky for any enterprise. 

FOREBODINGS AND LUCKY AMULETS. 

To the sailor an eclipse is a dire portent of evil; a meteor is a lucky omen; 
the Aurora Borealis is a certain forerunner of disaster. A moaning sound from 
the sea forebodes a storm with loss of life; when it is heard, the spirits of the 
sea are calling for the souls of men. He derives omens from animals; he watches 
the porpoise, the cat, the bird; the gambols of shoals of porpoises indicate 
coming change; if in bad weather, to good; if in fair weather, to foul. The cat 
washes her face before the storm; the albatross which accompanies his ship 
brings him bad luck, but nothing is gained by shooting the bird, an act which 
is certain to be followed by the wreck of the ship, though the albatross may 
be caught with a bit of pork on a hook, and brought on deck to die without 
serious result. He regards himself fortunate when land birds alight on his 
yards, but will not allow them to be caught, for this would be cold welcome to 
the stranger. The cat is uniformly bad, and more especially so when the color 
is black, and he cites cases where such an animal has caused the loss of a vessel 
and all her crew. Nor is it any more fortunate for a crow or a raven to perch 
on the ship’s tackle. When such an accident occurs at the beginning of a voyage 
he will desert if possible, and if he cannot, will bemoan the fate that lies before 
him. He considers many places ill-omened; Eddystone Rock, the Straits of 
Messina, where in ancient days Scylla and Charybdis lurked for the unwary voy- 


76 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


ager; the Strait of Babelmandeb, at the entrance to the Red Sea, which is 
haunted by the souls of the Arab slave traders and their victims; the Cape ot 
Good Hope, notwithstanding its name; Cape Hatteras, Cape Race oft New¬ 
foundland; the Labrador coast, the South coast of Ireland. He carries charms 
against spirits of the storm; likes to see a lucky figurehead on his. ship, or an 
inscription on some part of the vessel; he has animal charms; a bit of the sea 

calf’s skin pro¬ 
tects him from 
the lightning, 
though a fox tail, 
a gull’s wing or 
an eagle’s beak is 
almost equally 
good; he likes to 
have a bag of sea 
shells handy, or 
a shark’s tooth 
as a protection 
against ship¬ 
wreck ; though a 
branch of coral is 
good for this, as 
well as to stop 
bleeding and to 
keep off the evil 
eye. In default 
of a shark’s tooth, 
a bit of coral or 
a piece of amber, 
he will be satis¬ 
fied with a horse 
shoe nailed 
against the mast, 
or a bunch of gar¬ 
lic hung in the 
cabin. He objects 
to certain kinds 

of passengers; priests, clergymen of any denomination, he regards as extremely 
bad company on a voyage; Paul was shipwrecked thrice, and the experience.of 
Jonah was anything but reassuring. His very soul revolts at the idea of haying 
a corpse on board; he will not embark with one, and is ready to mutiny if a 
dead body is not at once committed to the deep and midnight burials are re¬ 
commended because the spirit is then least likely to reappear to the living. 














UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


77 


WITCHES AND STORM-BREEDERS. 

Nor does the sailor’s superstitious creed end here. He believes in storm- 
breeders. He knows that in the olden times witches had power to raise storms; 
he knows there were witches then, for numbers of them were hung and burned; 
why should they not now have the same power they had two or three hundred 
years ago. He has a suspicion that the ringing of bells is potent to call up 
storms, and is equally certain that the death of a great man will have the same 
effect. He has known a storm to be brought on by card playing on board his 
vessel; he has known the storm to pass away by the power of prayer. To 
obtain a fair breeze, he deems it necessary to flog a boy at the mast; to obtain 
a favorable wind he will burn an old broom, while to secure a return of the sun, 
a little dust from the chapel of some saint, or other holy place, sprinkled on 
the waves, will secure the desired result. For a captain not to pay his debts 
before sailing is the worst possible misfortune; the voyage will certainly be 
disastrous. Equally bad luck is it for the thoughtless passenger to cut his nails 
or hair during a calm, for a storm is certain to succeed. All these and a thousand 
fancies like them he steadfastly believes, but for the faith that is in him, he will 
not assign any reason; indeed, he cannot*; his notions have come down to him 
through generation after generation of sailors; he believes them because his 
fathers did, and is astonished that any one should ask for a better reason. 
The steam engine and electricity have pushed the old sailor into the back¬ 
ground ; the world has no longer time to listen to his stories; the steam 
engine does his work, heaves his anchor, furls his sail; his cheerful “Yo 
Heave, oh!” is becoming every year more rare, but he has made his imprint 
on the world’s thought, and his superstitions are as much a part of literature 
as the tales of knightly daring. 

MERMAIDS, SIRENS AND SEALS. 

From him the world learned of the existence of the mermaid and the siren. 
These beautifully poetic creatures of the old sailor’s imagination have long since 
been explained away. Even the old sailor himself is compelled to confess that 
the curious resemblance borne by the heads of several varieties of the seal 
family to the human countenance misled him, and that he was honestly mis¬ 
taken there can be no doubt, and many a man who has seen in the waves near 
his boat, the strange human-like face and soft pleading eyes of a large seal, is 
ready to excuse the old sailor’s error. Nor was the siren story so much in 
fault as might be supposed, for the seal has a voice, and on occasion gives 
utterance to a plaintive moan which, by no great stretch of imagination, can be 
understood as a song luring men to destruction. Wonderfully beautiful and 
strikingly poetic are some of the mermaid and siren legends, and the sailors of 
every land, in unconscious emulation, have gone on elaborating them until many 
are finished products of imaginative fancy. On one coast the mermaid is a 
benevolent being, warning poor Jack of approaching peril; on another, she lays 
aside her fishy scales and dances on the beach, while the wily peasant, unheedful 


78 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


of his peril, watches her gambols from the seclusion of a neighboring boulder. 
In one country, she forms an attachment to an earthly lover, leaves her coral 
caverns in the deep, enters his home and makes him a loving wife for years. 
Forgetting her weird origin, he reproves her as though she were an earthly 
maiden, whereupon indignant at the insult she leaves the house; her children 
follow her, the sheep and oxen come’ at her call, the tables and chairs fall into 
line, the pots and pans and trunks put out feet from their sides and make a 
part of the procession; she commands, and the calf that was slaughtered the 
day before comes down from the peg on which it hung; the pigs, which were 



the mermaid quitting the home of her husband. 


to form the winter’s store of food, join their severed limbs and come forth from 
the barrels and down from the hooks; and the seal-wife and all that she brought 
her husband, walk in solemn silence to the sea, pass into its waves and dis¬ 
appear forever. 

HORSES AND OXEN OF THE SEA. 

Yet stranger grow the stories of the wonders of the sea: It has its horses, fiery 
chargers, which leave the limpid waters and feed along the grassy shore. They 
are taken by men; are tamed, subdued; but will answer only to the touch of a 
warrior’s heel. The peasant harnesses them to his plow; they rebel, and with 
























UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


79 


mighty power draw him and his unworthy contrivance headlong into the watery 
gulf. It has its oxen, patient as those of land, and fortunate is the farmer who 
succeeds in mastering one of these humble, toiling brutes, for day and night will 
it labor for him, never stopping, never resting, never sleeping, and for food requir¬ 
ing only a mouthful of sea water, a breath of air laden with the smell of salty 
spray. It brings him wealth, good fortune and honor, and if well treated may 
learn in time to speak and divulge the secret treasures of the ocean’s caves. 

MONSTROUS SERPENTS AND OTHER FRIGHTFUL FORMS. 

And still the marvels come, for there is the sea-serpent, and the old sailor 
rejoices when he remembers this monster, for so often has the serpent, or some¬ 
thing like it, been seen, that its existence seems undisputed. The ocean contains 
the largest known ani¬ 
mal, and who shall say 
there may not be others 
in its depths so vast that 
even the whale may lose 
its superiority. The sail¬ 
ors of many ships have 
testified to having seen an 
animal of great size and 
shaped like a serpent; 
more than one scientific 
observer has had a glimpse 
of such a creature, and 
when we know that even 
the animals of the land 
are not yet numbered, may 
it not be possible that the 
deep, in extent three times that of the land, may contain such a creature as the once 
mythical sea-serpent. The existence of the Kraken may be doubted, thinks the 
old sailor; the Kraken was too greatly enlarged by its discoverers. It stands to 
reason, even to ancient mariner reason, that there could be no creature so large 
as to cause a tidal wave all along the coast of Europe when it rose to breathe. 
He doubts the old story of the shipwrecked mariners landing on the Kraken 
under the belief that it was a deserted island, and only discovering their mis¬ 
take when, after building a fire on its back the aggrieved animal sank to cool 
the smart, leaving his insulters to their fate. Vast as the Kraken was, the 
story was bigger, and, like the giant in the fable, it died of its own size, though 
not until, as many assert, it had dragged hundreds of ships and their crews 
to destruction. 






CHAPTER VI. 


STORY OF THE DOOMED BISHOP. 

ONDERS of animal life in the sea were sup¬ 
plemented. through superstition by fanciful 
human creations which were made a part of 
the marine kingdom. There was the monk¬ 
fish, for example, who inhabited the sea off 
the west coast of Ireland. He was a monk 
who, for a great crime, had been condemned 
to pass thousands upon thousands of years 
of penance in the form of a fish. Every 
Christmas Eve he came to the shore at the 
ruins of a small chapel that stood in one 
of the bays of the South of Galway, and 
inquired, “Is it time ? ” when a voice from the 
chapel answered “ No,” and, with a sigh, the 
monk-fish sank beneath the waves to wait 
again another year. His existence could not 
be questioned, for there were the ruins of the chapel to prove it. To be sure, 
no one had ever seen him, no one had ever heard him ask the question, nor 
had the ghostly response ever fallen on mortal ear, but what did that matter 
when everybody knew the tale was true. And there was the Bishop-fish who 
lived in the Mediterranean. He had been the first Bishop of Malta, and was 
consecrated by Paul himself after the escape of the apostle from the tempest’s 
fury. The Bishop was a contrary prelate, and thought he knew more than the 
apostle, and when he baptized his converts, he went to the seashore and used 
salt water, in spite of the saints’ prohibition. So, when Paul came back to 
Malta, he said to the Bishop, “You love the sea, go and live in it until the 
fires of A^tna cease to burn.” And the poor Bishop is still waiting. Off the 
coast of Sicily he raises his head from the waves and watches the summit of the 
great volcano, and every eruption sends him into despair, for fear the flames will 
never cease. He does not show himself to men, though the Sicilian fishermen 
sometimes think they catch a glimpse of him just as he is going down, but 
everybody knows Paul was in Malta, and JE tna still sends out fire and lava, 
and what better proof can be asked. 

APPARITIONS AND PHANTOMS OF THE SEA. 

Nor are these the only contributions the old sailor has made to literature. 
He has given it phantoms and apparitions amazing from their number, appall- 

(80) 










UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


81 


ing from the horrors with which his fancy has painted them. He has peopled the 
world of waters with beings of an ethereal kind; with weird forms, with unsub¬ 
stantial shapes, with shadowy lands. He has given the novelist material for a 
thousand tales, the poet matter for a score of epics. It is impossible to over¬ 
rate the literary value of material which had its origin in the sailor’s fancy. 
Every human being has, somewhere in his composition, an element of poetry, 
and a poetic germ, developed through successive generations, produces luxuriant 
fruit. Sailor literature is full of ghosts, for the sailor is a firm believer in the 
immortality of the soul. There is endless variety in the phantoms, for endless 
are the complications which give rise to the ghost. Sometimes the supernatural 
visitants are benevolent, coniing to warn of impending danger. Such a spectre 
appeared in 1664, to Captain Rogers of the British Navy. He was heading 
for the Hatteras Capes, but still deemed himself at a safe distance, when one 
night, as he was seated in his cabin, he glanced up from his book and beheld 
011 the other side of the table the spectre of a sailor who had been drowned 
during a previous voyage. “ Go on deck,” said the ghostly visitor, “ and look 
about you,” and then vanished. The captain did so, but seeing nothing 
unusual returned to his cabin and lay down. Hardly had he done so, than 
the sailor’s ghost again stood by him, and bade him go on deck and heave 
the lead. He obeyed, and to his horror found but seven fathoms, and imme¬ 
diately ordered the ship put about. It was done, and when morning came the 
captain discovered the capes in plain view, and had it not been for the super¬ 
natural warning all on board would probably have been lost. 

THE SPIRIT OF A MURDERED FIDDLER. 

Sometimes the spectres give an omen of approaching death, as in the story 
told by Grant: An officer of the English Navy was pacing the deck when his 
sister’s spirit appeared to him, and he fell to the boards insensible at the touch 
of her cold hand. She died that day and hour, and during a storm on his 
next cruise, again the spectre appeared, passing over the side and beckoning 
him to follow. A few hours after the last appearance a giant wave swept him 
overboard. Sometimes they come back to torment those who in life had of¬ 
fended them. Dana tells such a story, of a sailor whose dearest possession 
was a violin, on which he could play but one melody, “ The Girl I left behind 
me.” The sailor was brutally murdered by the captain, and on the night after 
the body had been committed to the deep, the spirit of the murdered man took 
a position on the bowsprit and played his favorite tune. A storm of terrific 
power came on, and in the midst of the blast were heard the strains of the 
ghostly violin; higher and higher they rose as destruction became more and 
more imminent, and the spirit could be seen laughing in glee at the horror of 
the affrighted officer as he stared death in the face. Sometimes ghosts appear 
only at the moment when their victims are passing into the spirit world, as in 
the tale told by Gregor : A sailor had deserted his sweetheart who died of 
grief. During the course of the next cruise, he told his companions that Jenny 
6 


82 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 



would come for him, because he frequently dreamed that she was calling him. 
One night when the sky was clear and the sea smooth, his companions heard 
him cry, “ Yes, Jenny, I am coming,” and beheld him leap overboard and dis¬ 
tinctly saw the spirit of the deserted girl receive him in her arms as his body 
cleared the vessel. Sometimes the wicked ghost lurks about the place of its 
crime, as the spirits of the buccaneers haunt the islets of the Caribbean, and as the 
ghost of Captain Kidd guards his hidden treasures on Long Island Sound. 
Again the spectre appears to prevent the memory of some terrible crime from 
fading from the minds of men, as the screaming woman of Marblehead still 


THE GHOSTLY FIDDLER. 

cries along the beach. She was a Spaniard, the wife of a captain whose vessel 
was taken by pirates. The outlaws brought the ship and her crew to Oakum 
Bay and there murdered all who refused to join their band. The lady in vain 
begged for mercy for herself and husband; but it was refused, and she was dis¬ 
patched by a sabre in the hands of one of the outlaws; so, every year on the anni¬ 
versary of the horrid deed, the whole scene of the massacre is re-enacted in the 
secluded glen where the butchery was consummated; again the lady flees from 
the cruel steel, again her screams for mercy are echoed by the cliffs. Some- 



































UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


83 


times the spectres give notice of their own death, as in North Germany the 
spirits of sailors drowned at sea go into their own houses on the shore, drop 
a trail of sea water after them on the floor, and leave the chairs and beds on 
which they reclined soaked with the briny liquid. 

STORIES ABOUT SPECTRAL CREWS. 

Occasionally the spectres come in companies. The Maine fishermen have 
a story of the Hascall, a fishing vessel which broke from her anchorage on 
George’s Banks and ran down the Andrew Johnson. For many years after, 
the ghosts of the drowned sailors would come on board the Hascall and go 
through the motions of fishing and, so general was the belief that no sailor 
would go on the ship, no man would buy her, and at length she was broken 
up, because no further use could be made of her. Often the spectres accom¬ 
pany the “ fires of St. Elmo,” electrical lights which appear on the masts of 
ships during foul weather, and more than one sailor historian has seen the 
supernatural visitors and described their appearance. 

The range of superstitious fancy is not confined to the limits of ship’s 
decks, for all sailors can tell of sunken cities, engulfed for the crimes of 
their inhabitants. These unfortunates are in some cases still imprisoned be¬ 
neath the waves, and only occasionally are allowed to go on shore for the 
purpose of attending divine service. At Ballyvaughn, on the west coast of 
Ireland, a boat was, one Sunday morning, noticed approaching the shore. The 
people in it disembarked, proceeded to the church, which they entered, 
reverently took part in the worship, retired, passing through a wondering 
crowd who knew them not, re-entered their boat, put to sea, and when a 
mile or more from shore suddenly sank, returning to the city whence 
they had come, and where, tradition affirms, they must remain for a whole 
century ere they can have another outing. 

And old salts tell of islands which come and go; which are here to¬ 
day and gone to-morrow; which have never been trodden by foot of man, 
which are the abodes of demons. One such travels up and down the Irish 
coast, appearing at various points once in seven years; another is seen 
from time to time off the coast of Spain. Very dangerous are these travel¬ 
ling rocks, for no mariner can tell at what moment he may find the wan¬ 
dering island rising under his bow, when of course all hope is at an 
end. 

THE PHANTOM SHIP. 

It is easier to imagine a wandering ship than a wandering island, so 
the tale of the Phantom Vessel is the bes^ .-mown and most poetical of all 
the nautical legends. Novelists have used it, poets have embellished it, 
dramatists have put it on the boards with all the accessories of magnificent 
scenery, composers have made it familiar to the lovers of music in^ more 
than one famous opera. The story is told with variations by the sailors of 
every land, but a striking similarity exists in the main point of all the 


84 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


legends,—in each the vessel is condemned to wander forever on account of 
a great crime committed by the captain. The commonly accepted version 

of the story is that 
given by Jal: An 
unbelieving Dutch 
captain, endeavor¬ 
ing to double Cape 
Horn against the 
force of a head 
wind, profanely 
swore that he would 
persist in his course 
in spite of the de¬ 
crees of Providence. 
Undeterred by the 
remonstrances of 
his crew, he laughed 
at their fears, made 
some of them, who 
threatened mutiny, 
walk the plank from 
the deck into the sea, 
and flogged others 
at the mast. Cries 
from suffering vic¬ 
tims rose to heaven, 
and holy spirits 
swooped down be¬ 
fore him and made 
merciful appeals to 
the enraged wretch, 
but at some he threw 
dish-water, at others 
he fired a pistol, and 
finally a voice from 
above proclaimed 
that on account of 
his blasphemy he 
should be con¬ 
demned forever to 
sail the sea, the evil 
genius of sailors. 

Thus the appearance of the Flying Dutchman is ever dreaded as the fore¬ 
runner of disaster. O’Reilly sings : 



THE PHANTOM SHIP. 

























UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


85 


‘' Heaven help the ship near which the demon sailor steers, 

The doom of those is fixed to whom the Phantom Ship appears; 

They’ll never reach their destined port, they’ll see their homes no more; 

They who see the Flying Dutchman never, never reach the shore.” 

IN PURSUIT OF THE SPECTRAL SHIP. 

The Phantom Ship brings sudden squalls and howling tempests. She 
leads those who follow in her wake on to shoals, quicksands and reefs. She is the 
Purgatory of wicked sailors; her skeleton crew is composed of the souls of thieves, 
murderers, pirates who are condemned to everlasting toil, with no rest, no 
play, and very little food. The Phantom Ship is never seen twice under the 
same circumstances. By one she is beheld in the midst of the storm, with all 
sails set, placidly plowing her way through the wildest billows ; by another, 
she is beheld on a calm night, with sails closely reefed, pitching and tumbling 
as though in a terrible storm. All the main features of the legend are 
detailed by Marryatt in his Story of the Phantom Ship. In this remarkable 
sea-tale the incidents are told by her captain, who narrates his adventures from 
the time when, on account of impiety, he was condemned to wander, until, by 
the restoration of a relic, his aimless voyages came to an end. The dramatic 
feature of the tale lies in the fact that the captain’s sou undertakes his re¬ 
demption, and tilled with a filial purpose follows the Phantom Ship to and 
fro over the watery waste. He sees her first in a cloud, just at sunset, and 
his ship approaches so close to the spirit vessel that the whistles of the boatswain, 
the orders given on the decks, the rattling of the cordage are plainly heard. 
Again he beholds her in a good breeze, her hull enveloped in mist. A gun 
is fired from her bow; voices are heard and the trampling of the crew as they 
man the ropes, and she passes out of sight. Again he sees her as she decoys 
other vessels into dangerous waters, herself passing over the reef without alter¬ 
ing her course, and at last she rises slowly out of the water, a demon ship, 
and awaits the coming of the boat sent by her pursuers. 

GHOSTLY SHIPS OF EXTRAORDINARY PROPORTIONS. 

The Flying Dutchman is not the only phantom vessel; the sailors of the 
olden time had many, some of gigantic size. The Frisians believed in a 
Phantom Ship so large that the captain rode about on horseback giving his 
orders; the sailors, who, as boj^s, started aloft to execute an order, came down 
as old men; in the rigging were dining-halls; the cabin was larger than all 
England. But even this mighty craft was a tojr boat compared to the Chasse 
Foudre, “ The Lightning Chaser,” of old French mariners, which was so large 
that seven years were required to tack or change her course; when she rolled, 
whales were stranded on the shore; thirty thousand men were thirty years in 
digging the iron to make her hull. Her cables were as thick as the diameter 
of St. Peter’s dome and so long that they could seven times encircle the 
globe; her lower masts were so tall that a boy grew white-headed before reach¬ 
ing the first yard; her smallest sail was larger than all Europe ; twenty-five 


86 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


thousand soldiers could manoeuvre on the cap which covered the top of the 
main-mast; in her forecastle was a garden larger than the whole of France; 
in every block of the rigging there was a tavern; every quid of tobacco used 
by one of her sailors would supply a frigate’s crew for three years ; a dram 
of grog was composed of seventeen hogsheads of rum, to say nothing of the 
water. These were stories of the olden times, when the Phantom Ship was in 
her prime; but within the last three centuries she gradually diminished in 
size, until sixty years ago she was no larger than an ordinary vessel. She 
still remained, however, a place of punishment for wicked sailors, and some 
who beheld her saw death-heads grinning from her ports, a skeleton captain 
walking her bridge, the corpse of a seaman on the lookout, and a ghost taking 
his trick at the wheel. She is sometimes inhabited by demons, who chastise 
the spirits of evil seamen with whips of scorpions; dogs are set to guard the 
prisoners and inflict ten thousand tortures on the hapless wretches; in her 
forecastle, cabin and hold, serpents, cats, hobgoblins, creeping things, all kinds 
of horrors abound. 

A MONK WHO VISITED THE ISLANDS OF THE DAMNED AND THE BLESSED. 

The Phantom Ship takes long voyages; visits strange countries. The lost 
continent of Atlantis is its frequent destination, although sometimes it lets fall 
its anchor at the Isles of the Blessed. According to tradition, these were 
located to the west of Ireland, but judiciously shifted their position as the sea 
became better known. They were, however, sometimes visited even by the 
living. St. Brandan, an Irish monk, started to explore them in a phantom boat, 
and after sailing twenty-four days and nights, came to an island of fiends and 
volcanoes, where whole fleets of phantom ships were at anchor in the harbor, 
and spectral sailors wandering to and fro on the shore. Such a spectacle as 
a monk had never before been seen on the island. He was attacked by the 
demons, and was only saved by the intercession of a saint more powerful than 
himself, who conducted him through the island, showed him all the torments 
in progress, and gave him material for a narrative closely resembling the story 
of Dante. Leaving this horrid island, after twenty-four days and nights he 
arrived at the Islands of the Blessed, which were filled with delights of every 
kind. No night was there, nor heat of the sun; pleasant prospects charmed 
the eye; soft music from unseen sources fascinated the ear; every flower was 
fragrant, every taste a pleasure. In this paradisaical place the good monk 
probably spent the remainder of his days, for we do not hear more of his 
adventures. 

ORIGIN OF THE GHOSTLY SHIP. 

Since the ocean has been thoroughly explored and its lands located, the 
Islands of the Cursed and of the Blessed have alike disappeared, but not so 
the spectral ship ; and it is a curious fact that science has supported the old 
sailor in his superstition by often presenting to the most skeptical a view of 
the phantom vessel. The mirage is more common on the water than on land, 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


87 


and it often happens that a vessel or fleet many miles distant is plainly in 
view of men on shore, or of mariners at sea. Too many instances are recorded 
to doubt the fact, and the observers are too cautious to be deceived. During 
Owen’s travels he visited Port Danger, of the South Africa coast, and there 
he and all with him beheld in the offing the British man-of-war Bavracouta. 
So plainly visible was the vessel that she was recognized by all on shore; even 



the figures on her deck were plainly to 
be seen. Some days after she arrived, 
when it was proven that she was three 
hundred miles away at the time her 
spectral counterpart sailed into the har¬ 
bor and vanished. At Oporto, Lisbon, 


ST. BRANDAN ON THE ISEAND OF FIENDS AND PHANTOMS. 

Marseilles, and other ports of Southern Europe, the phantoms of vessels are 
often seen during the summer season a day or two before their arrival; in the 
North Sea, the spectre of a ship upside down is a certain forerunner of bad 
weather. The Fata Morgana, a daily phenomenon in the Straits of Messina, 























88 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


shows the phantoms of vessels in all sorts of positions and with all kinds of 
distortion. Sometimes the ship is in the air; sometimes a double reflection is 
presented in the water; occasionally there are three images of the same vessel, 
two in the water and one in the air. The tropical seas are full of optical 
wonders. The Arctic Region abounds with reflected images; of icebergs, of 
mountains, of continents, of vessels. All these things have become familiar to 
the modern scientist, and for all a natural explanation has been found. The 
Flying Dutchman is not an optical delusion, but an optical reality, so the old 
sailor was right in one particular, the basis of the story; and, given a starting 
point, the rest was easy. A derelict bark, seen under circumstances of danger, 
perhaps gave rise to the supernatural appearance of the phantom ; a vessel whose 
crew were all dead of the plague—a slaver laden with fetid corpses—gave the 
idea of the wandering ship haunted by the souls of the dead. The presence 
of electrical lights at the mast-heads, the brilliancy of the Aurora Borealis, the 
appearance of peculiar mists, the resonance of the air at certain times, did the 
rest and embellished the tale with all its fanciful and grotesquely horrible 
additions. 

A REAL FLYING DUTCHMAN. 

There was even a good reason why the wandering vessel should be a 
Dutchman. At the time the legend was crystallizing the Dutch were the best 
sailors in the world ; cool, impassive, little prone to excitement, their remark¬ 
able skill was naturally attributed to sorcer}'. It is even asserted that the 
Flying Dutchman was a real person, by name Bernard Fokke, of the seven¬ 
teenth century. He was a reckless, daring seaman who, that he might carry 
the more sail in a high wind, cased his masts with iron. One voyage to 
India he made in ninety days, then an unprecedented rate of speed, and so 
rapidly did he traverse the water-world that even in his own time he was be¬ 
lieved to be in league with Satan. But Bernard took one risk too many, and 
setting sail from Amsterdam with the expressed determination to beat his own 
record to India, was never afterwards heard of, and of course Satan took him 
and the ship and set them to travelling up and down the world to the be¬ 
wilderment of better men. 

DYING SUPERSTITION. 

The steamship dissipated the legend by taking away its most attractive 
feature, for the steam vessel, as easily as the phantom, can move against wind 
and tide. The use of better lights on board ship banished the ghosts, for it 
is well known that no ghost can stand the glare of an electric lamp. The old 
sailor himself will soon be as rare as his spectres, for with improved naviga¬ 
tion come increased confidence and decreased credulity. The sailor no longer 
feels his way across the sea, but calculates exactly where he is, knows how 
far he has travelled, how far he has still to go. Every rock in the ocean is 
laid down on the maps, and the seaman knows exactly what course to take 
to secure the safety of his vessel. He has confidence in his ship, and in his 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE EANDS. 


89 


ship’s captain; the voyages of the present day are short in comparison to 
those of former years ; appliances for the sailor’s safety are more efficient than 
ever before; the hiss of escaping steam, the crashing of the propellers are a 
wonderful relief from the dead silence which once reigned over the deep. The 
sailor knows that on every headland in civilized countries around the globe a 
lamp blazes, warning him of danger; he hears the steam siren singing from 
every light-ship, but her voice is significant of peril, not an enticement to de¬ 
struction. Fear, on eagle pinions, follows banished danger, and with whistle 
sounding and lights flashing from foretop and sides, with captain and first 
officer on the bridge, with second and third officers pacing the deck, with double 
lookout at the bow, the sailor plunges into the fog, forgetful of his phantoms. 




CHAPTER VII. 


MARCO POLO’S VISIT TO THE GREAT KHAN OF TARTARY. 



OST interesting and wonderful of all over¬ 
land journeys of which history affords any 
account, is unquestionably that performed 
by Marco Polo who, proceeding from Venice, 
his native place, made a trip to the regions 
of the far east and abode with the great 
Khan of Chinese Tartary for a period of 
twenty-six years. A description of this most 
celebrated trip is especially important as an 
indispensable link in the chain which binds 
in harmonious sequence the voyages of dis¬ 
covery as I shall attempt to relate them; for 
to the report of Polo’s travels are we indirectly 
indebted for the discovery of America. 

Directly after Polo’s return from Cathay, 
he caused to be printed an account of all the wonderful things that he saw 
in the east, in which was contained such extravagant descriptions of the in¬ 
conceivable riches in gold, silver, precious stones, and valuable spices, which 
distinguished the country bordering on the Pacific, that Columbus, after read¬ 
ing Polo’s book, became so ambitious to reach that auriferous region that he 
conceived the project of making a voyage westward, in the belief that, as the 
world was round, this route must offer the easiest and most direct passage to 
that country. It was in pursuit of this ambition and belief that Columbus 
discovered the West Indies on his first, and South America on his second 
voyage. 

Directly after Columbus started on his first voyage, John Cabot had occa-< 
sion to visit Mecca, and there seeing caravans arriving from the far east with 
great stores of spices, beheld in these what he considered as proofs of the 
stories that Polo had related, which he had previously doubted. Being now 
excited by the same ambitions that had actuated Columbus, Cabot set sail with 
a fleet equipped by some English merchants for farther India, which he like¬ 
wise hoped to reach by a directly westward route, and thus came upon the 
shore of North America. 

In view, therefore, of the importance and captivating interest which at¬ 
taches to Polo’s travels, it is proper to preface their relation with a brief 
notice of this most distinguished traveller. 

(90) 









UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


91 


A COUNTRY ABOUT WHICH MOORE AND MILTON SANG. 

The birth of Marco Polo is said to have occurred in the year 1254. His 
father, Nicolo, one of the most distinguished men of his time, had acquired an 
immense fortune in commercial pursuits, which finally led him, with his 
brother Maffei, to visit the Crimea with a view of extending his trade to the 
nations of the east. Ormus, at the entrance of the Persian Gulf, was the city 



to which was directed the commerce of the east and the west, the people there 
making exchanges of goods as those of Asia and Europe do at Nishtn Nov¬ 
gorod on the Volga to-day. Thus Ormus became m its day one of the 
richest cities on the globe, about whose wealth Milton afterwards sang. Nicolo 
and Maffei, after reaching the Crimea, were induced by promises of more lu¬ 
crative trade in the farther east to extend their journey to Bokhara, celebrated 



























92 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


in Tom Moore’s Lalla Rookh, and from thence they were induced to visit 
Kubla Khan, who was the Emperor of China. The country of China was not 
at that time described by its present limits, but included the whole of Tartary, 
of which latter country Genghis Khan was originally ruler, but having conquered 
China he annexed that country, and his successors made their seat of gov¬ 
ernment at Cambaluc,—the modern Pekin,—which Kubla Khan enlarged, 
fortified and glorified. The particular inducements which led the two Polos to 
visit the great Khan (which is the Tartar word for Emperor) are not under¬ 
stood, but they must have been considerable; and their coming was evidently 
heralded in advance, for the great Tartar ruler received them with every 
manifestation of cordial hospitality, as the first visitors to his country from 
European civilization. 

THE KHAN SENDS FOR CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTORS. 

After their residence for several years at Cambaluc, the two Polos were 
sent back by the Khan as envoys to Italy, bearing a golden tablet which 
served them as a passport through all the countries of the east, and a written 
request from the Khan to the Pope to send to China teachers of the Christian 
religion. On their return to Venice, however, they found Pope Clement IV. 
dead, and his successor not yet appointed. Nicolo Polo’s wife had also died in 
the meantime, but directly after his departure for the far east had borne him a 
son who was now eleven years of age. The brothers remained in Venice for 
a period of two years, when they started again for the far east, accompanied 
by the lad, Marco, the hero, of our narrative. Directly after their departure 
Gregory X., who had succeeded to the office of Pope, in compliance with the re¬ 
quest which had been brought by the two Polos, sent two Dominicans to carry 
the Christian religion into the Tartan Empire. But before they had completed 
any considerable part of the journey they became discouraged by the hardships 
endured, and returned. Marco, with his father and uncle, continued on, how¬ 
ever, intending to take a ship at Ormus and make the journey to China (or 
Cathay) by sea. But failing to find a ship ready upon their arrival at that 
place, they proceeded overland until they reached the hill country of Badakh- 
shan, situated in Central Asia, where Marco falling sick they remained a con¬ 
siderable while, and until his recovery was complete. Thence their journey 
lay by way of the great desert of Gobi, which is 1200 miles long, and thence 
in a north-easterly direction until in the spring of 1275 the three reached 
Xanadu, where they were met by the imperial courtiers of Kubla Khan who 
conducted them to Cambaluc. Though their mission to the Pope had not been 
successful, the Khan was no less pleased to see them, and being favorably 
struck by the appearance of young Marco, he took him to the royal court and 
placed him under instructors, where the young Venetian speedily acquired a 
knowledge of four of the leading languages of Tartary, and thus fitted him¬ 
self for active service under the Emperor. In the year 1277, Marco was at¬ 
tached to the Imperial Council, and was soon afterward sent by Kubla Khan 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


93 


on a mission to Yunnan, which, was a province in the extreme south-western 
part of China. 

THE POLOS ATTACHED TO THE ROYAL COURT. 

In the meantime, the two elder Polos remained with the great Khan, who 
never tired of showing them his favors, and who in turn received from them 
helpful suggestions and a knowledge of the usages of the extreme west, which 
he employed to the great advantage of his country. After Marco returned from 
Yunnan, and before he was yet twenty years of age, he was appointed to the 
position of governor of the city of Yangchow, the modern city of Hanchow. 
After a residence of nearly twenty years with the Tartan Emperor, the two 
elder Polos became anxious to return to 
their homes in Venice, having acquired 
great riches during their visit in the 
east. But their repeated requests for 
permission to visit Venice again were 
denied, through the desire of the Em¬ 
peror to retain their wise counsels. But 
in 1292 their services as experienced 
travellers were sought by the Emperor to 
conduct to Tabreez a bride, chosen from 
among the Mongols, for a Persian Khan 
who was an ally of the Tartan Em¬ 
peror. Under this commission, Marco 
and his father and uncle sailed from 
Chinchew. But after a perilous journey 
of nearly two years (a surprisingly 
long while), during which many of their 
companions perished, they succeeded 
in reaching theii" destination, only to 
find that the royal bridegroom had died 
in the meantime. According to the 
custom of the country, she was then mar¬ 
ried to the eldest son, after which the Polos returned safely to their country. 

In the year 1298 Venice became engaged in a war with Genoa, in which 
Marco enlisted, and in a naval battle which occurred between the two powers 
soon after, Polo was taken prisoner, and remained in the fortress of Genoa 
until peace was declared between the two republics, in July of the following- 
year. During his imprisonment, he was persuaded by a fellow captive, Rusti- 
ciano, to dictate a description of his travels, that it might be published for the 
benefit of his countrymen. The narrative was written by Rusticiano in the 
Venetian language, but it was first printed in the Latin, from which it was 
directly after translated into the French.^ It is to the story thus related that we 
are indebted for the wonderful, interesting, and valuable history which is sum¬ 
marized in the following pages. 

















( 94 ) 


NICOLO POLO BEFORE THE KHAN OF TARTARY 











































































































































































































































































































































































































































































UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


95 


DESCRIPTION OF MARCO’S TRAVELS. 

Marco Polo begins the description of his journey with a resume of the 
history of the great Tartan Empire. As his entire relation makes a book of 
considerably more than two hundred pages of the size of this, exceeding brevity 
causes me to hasten rapidly over the territory which he traversed. He relates 
the history of the extension of Tartan territory in the following manner:— 
“ When the Tartans began to extend their conquests there were four brothers, 
the eldest of whom, named Mangu, reigned in Sedia. These purposing to sub¬ 
due the world, went one to the east, another to the south, named Ulan, a 
third to the north, and the other to the west. In the year 1250, Ulan, having 
a great army of one hundred thousand horse, besides infantry, used policy, 
and having hid a great part of his men, brought by pretending flight the 
Caliph into his ambuscade, and took him to the city in which he found infinite 
store of treasure, insomuch that he was amazed. He sent for the Caliph, and 
reproved him, that in that war he had not provided himself with soldiers for 
defence, and commanded that he should be enclosed in that tower where his 
treasure was, without other sustenance. 

TALE OF A DEVOUT SHOEMAKER. 

“This seemed a just judgment from our Lord Jesus Christ on him: for 
in the year 1225, seeking to convert the Christians to the Mohammedan 
religion, and taking advantage from that place in the Gospel, ‘ That he that 
hath faith, as a grain, of mustard-seed, shall be able to remove inountains,’ he 
summoned all the Christians, Nestorians, and Jacobites, and propounded to 
them in ten days to remove a certain mountain, or turn Mohammedan, or be 
slain, as not having one man amongst them which had the least faith. They 
therefore continued eight days in prayer, after which a certain shoemaker, in 
consequence of a revelation made to a bishop, was fixed upon to perform it. 
This shoemaker,, once tempted to lust by the sight of a young woman in 
putting on her shoes, zealously had fulfilled that of the Gospel, and literally 
had put out his right eye with an awl. He now on the day appointed, with 
other Christians, followed the cross, and lifting his hands to heaven, prayed to 
God to have mercy on his people, and then with a loud voice commanded 
the mountain in the name of the Holy Trinity to remove; which presently, to 
the great terror of the Caliph and his people, was effected, and that da7 is 
since kept holy by fasting, also the evening before it.” 

It will be observed by the reader that the cities mentioned by Marco Polo 
have no place in our present geographies. The reason of this must be appar¬ 
ent upon consideration of the fact that, not only have several centuries elapsed, 
but on account of fierce wars which have agitated the Tartan Empire for a 
like period, there must have resulted not only the destruction of .cities, but of 
tribes as well, and a change of routes, so that the face of the entire Tartan 
Empire has since undergone a complete transformation nor is it possible 
for us to accurately locate the places mentioned by Polo, though this in no 
wise affects the truthfulness of his relation. 


96 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


A PARADISE FILLED WITH PERIS. 

Having traversed tlie whole of Persia, Polo came at length to a city called 
Mulehet, which signified in the Saracen language the place of heretics, the 
prince of which was denominated “ The Old Man of the Mountain,” whose 
name it will be remembered occurs in the story of “ Sinbad the Sailor,” re¬ 
lated in the “ Arabian Nights.” The true name of this ruler was Aloadine, 
and his religion was that of Mohammedanism. With the peculiar resources 
which distinguish the people of that creed, he had provided a singular means 
of attaching to himself, by the strongest bonds, the valorous youths of his 
country. Marco relates that this sovereign had “in a lovely valley, betwixt 
two mountains which were very high and inaccessible, caused a pleasant gar¬ 
den to be laid out, furnished with the best trees and fruits he could find, 
adorned with divers palaces and houses of pleasure, beautified with gilded 
bowers, pictures, and tapestries of silk. Through this place, by pipes to differ¬ 
ent parts of these palaces, ran wine, milk, honey, and clear water; in them he 
had placed beautiful damsels, skilful in songs and instruments of music and 
dancing, and to make sports and delights unto men whatsoever they could 
imagine. They were also richly dressed in gold and silk, and were seen con¬ 
tinually sporting in the garden and palaces. He made this palace because 
Mohammed had promised such a sensual paradise to his devout followers. No 
man could enter it; for at the mouth of the valley was a strong castle, and 
the entrance was by a secret passage. Aloadine had certain youths, from 
twelve to twenty years of age, such as seemed of a bold and dauntless disposi¬ 
tion, whom he instructed daily as to the delights of Mohammed’s paradise, and 
how he could bring men thither; and when he thought proper, he caused a 
certain drink to be given to ten or twelve of them at a time, which cast 
them into a deep sleep, and then he caused them to be carried into several 
chambers of the said palaces, where they saw the things he described; as 
soon as they awaked, each of them had those damsels to supply them with 
meats and excellent wines, and yield all varieties of pleasure to them; inso¬ 
much that the fools thought themselves in paradise indeed. 

THE KEEPER OF PARADISE BROUGHT TO JUDGMENT. 

“ When they had enjoyed these pleasures four or five days, they were cast 
into a sleep, and carried forth again ; after which he caused them to be brought 
into his presence, and questioned them where they had been? who answered 
‘ By your grace, in paradise; ’ and recounted to him all what hath been before 
mentioned. Then the Old Man answered, ‘ This is the commandment of our 
prophet, that whosoever defends his Lord, he allows him to enter paradise; 
and if thou wilt be obedient unto me, thou shalt have this grace; ’ and hav¬ 
ing thus animated them, he was thought happy whom the Old Man would 
command, though it cost him his life; so that other lords, and his enemies 
were slain by these assassins, who exposed themselves to all dangers and con¬ 
temned their lives. Aloadine, having thus surrounded himself with so many 


THE SENSUAL, PARADISE OF ALOADINE. 



/ 


( 97 ) 




























































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































98 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


brave young men, robbed all who passed through his territory, until in the 
year 1262, Ulan sent and besieged his castle, and after three years so reduced the 
robber chief by famine that he captured his capital and directly put him to 
death.” 

ILLUSIONS IN THE DESERT. 

Passing through this territory of the robber chief, Marco Polo entered the 
city of Samarcand, which was situated in a most fertile plain which, though a 
part of the Khan’s territory, was chiefly occupied by Christians. Beyond 
Samarcand was the city of Lop, through which merchants passed to Cathay. 
But directly beyond Lop lay a great desert which was most difficult to 
traverse, having neither water nor vegetation. In it, Marco reports, there were 
neither beasts nor birds, and it was rendered more dangerous by the supersti¬ 
tions of the people, who declared that it was inhabited by spirits, that caused 
great and marvellous illusions to travellers, and lured them to destruction. Ii 
a caravan became separated, it was believed that the travellers heard strange 
whisperings in the air aud concerts of musical instruments, and the drums 
and noises of armies, which so disconcerted them that they were unable to see 
their way, and being thus led out of their course, would invariably perish on 
the burning sands. 

Beyond the desert lay the city of Sachion, which was in the province of 
Tangut. It was in the midst of a very fertile country, furnishing such abun¬ 
dance of fruits that the inhabitants lived chiefly off such products. Being 
idolaters, they practised many curious rites, and employed astrologers to fore¬ 
cast the future of every enterprise which they undertook. Their funeral rites 
were no less curious, their custom being to embalm their dead with spices and 
to cover the body with painted and embroidered cloths. The dead were also 
kept for many days in the house, and at meal-time a fair proportion of food 
was set before the bodies, in the belief that the soul of the dead lingered 
about and required nourishment the same as the living. The astrologers some 
times forbade the carrying out of a body through the chief gate, and not in¬ 
frequently required that it be taken through an aperture broken through a 
wall in the house, to prevent, as they maintained, the interference of evil 
spirits, which played a conspicuous part in all their affairs. When the body 
was finally deposited in the ground, the custom was to paint the images of 
men and women and animals upon paper, which were burned over the dead 
body, and occasionally the body itself was burned at the same time, in the be¬ 
lief that these pictured images would serve the spirit of the deceased in the 
land to which it had emigrated. 

A WONDERFULLY DEGRADING CUSTOM. 

From Sachion, the Polos came to the province of Camul, which was also 
in that of Tangut, and subject to the Great Khan. The chief city was also 
called Camul, and though lying between two deserts, had a large number of 
inhabitants, who practised the most curious customs, but whose principal ambi- 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


99 


tion was to glorify themselves with magnificent buildings and rich ornamenta¬ 
tion. The people of Camul applied themselves to sensual pleasures of the 
most degrading character. Their chief occupation seemed to be sporting, sing¬ 
ing, dancing, and the playing on musical instruments. But the most dis¬ 
tinguishing characteristic, as related by our traveller, was the custom of 
abandoning the house and its female inmates to any stranger who might choose 
to seek entertainment. Describing this exceedingly strange practice Marco 
says : “ When any traveller passing by goes into any man’s house for entertain¬ 
ment, the master of the family receives him with great joy, and commands his 
wife and all the family, that as long as he will abide with them, they obey 



THE CITY OF CAMUE. 

him in all things. In the mean time he departs, and returns not so long as 
the guests remains at his house; and during all this space, the stranger is enter¬ 
tained by the wife and daughters, as if they were his own family. The women of 
the country are beautiful, and ready to obey all these commandments of their 
husbands, who are so besotted with this folly that they think it a glorious 
thing for them, and believe it so acceptable to their idols that through their 
favor, thus obtained, they prosper and enjoy plenty of all things.” The Em¬ 
peror, Mangu Khan, upon one occasion issued a command forbidding the folly 
of these people, which order they obeyed for a period of three years; but dur¬ 
ing this time, it happened that they were troubled with domestic afflictions and 














100 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


failure of crops, which they attributed to their obedience to this order of their 
Emperor, and upon their petition to re-institute the custom, the Khan answered 
them, “ Since you desire your reproach and shame, let it be granted you ; go 
and do herein after your wont.” The messenger returning with this answer 
brought great joy to all the people, and the custom was immediately renewed 
and was prevalent at the time of Marco’s visit. 

INDESTRUCTIBLE CLOTH OF SALAMANDER SKIN. 

Beyond Caniul lay the province of Chinchintalas, which was bounded on 
the north by a desert, and sixteen days’ journey in extent. It had several 



RUINS OF CARACARUM. 


large cities and many castles, and was inhabited by Nestorians, Mohammedans, 
and idolaters. In this province, Marco maintains, there is a mountain where 
great numbers of salamanders were to be found, of the skins of which a cloth 
was made which would resist the action of fire. Marco does not relate the 
story as an eye witness, but received the statement from a Turk who was one 
of his companions, and a man whom he vouched for as being endowed with 
singular industry, intelligence and honesty. This Turk, after telling him of 






UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


101 


the wonderful qualities of the cloth made from the skins of the salamanders, 
declared that a certain mineral was also to be found in that mountain, which 
yielded thread not unlike wool, which being dried in the sun and bruised in a 
brazen mortar, and afterwards washed, was then spun like other wool and 
woven into cloth; and when it was desirable to cleanse these cloths, it was 
only necessary to cast them into a fire for the space of an hour, when they 
might be taken out uninjured and whiter than snow. Marco would not vouch 
for the truth of what had been related to him concerning the indestructible 
quality of the salamander skin, but he repeats a story that was told him, to the 
effect that there is a certain napkin in Rome woven of salamander wool, 
wherein the handkerchief of the Lord is kept wrapped up, which a certain 
king of the Tartans sent to the Bishop of Rome. 


IN THE COUNTRY OF PRESTER JOHN. 

After leaving the last places named, our travellers came to a city called 
Caracarum, which was three miles in circumference, and strongly fortified with 
earth embankments, there being no stone in that country. In this place, which 
seems to have had nothing in particular to recommend it as a stronghold, the 
Tartars of olden times were accustomed to assemble, and prepare their schemes 
for attacking neighboring nations. To the north there were many vast plains 
uninhabited, but abounding in pastures, rivers and lakes, which region was 
used for pasturing cattle, of which the people possessed vast herds. The 
inhabitants of Caracarum had no direct ruler, but paid tribute to a certain 
king named Umcan, whom Polo identifies as presbyter, or priest John, more 
commonly known as prester John. To him the Tartars gave annual tithes. 
But despite this burden, they increased in number until Umcan, becoming 
fearful of the power which they were developing, thought it prudent to disperse 
them. For this purpose he sent several bodies of Tartars against them, whose 
power they made no effort to oppose, but abandoning their country, went to 
the south, where they resolved themselves into an independent nation. This 
happened in the year noo. 

Sixty-two years later they found themselves so numerous that they desired 
a ruler, and selected from among themselves a distinguished warrior, named 
Zingis (Genghis) Khan. The new sovereign ruled with such justice that he begat 
the love of his people, and his fame soon spread afar, and with such favor that 
neighboring provinces came voluntarily under his rulership. Finding himself 
now at the head of a large and prosperous nation, Zingis armed his people 
with bows and other weapons, and began the conquest of other nations. When¬ 
ever he captured a city or a province he placed it immediately under the 
direction of a wise governor, who was instructed to seek only the good and 
happiness of the people whom he was thus appointed to govern. 




CHAPTER VIII. 


GREAT KHAN WINS A WIFE BY BATTLE. 


jIS’ power continued rapidly to increase 
until at length he sent an ambassador to 
Umcan, entreating him to bestow his daugh¬ 
ter upon him to be his wife. Instead of 
receiving the request civilly, Umcan rejected 
the ambassador of Zingis with great indig¬ 
nation, saying, “ Doth my servant demand 
my daughter ? Get ye out of my sight, and 
tell your master, if he ever make such de¬ 
mand again, I will make him die a miserable 
death.” Receiving this austere message, 
Zingis prepared immediately to invade the 
country of Umcan, and assembling a great 
army marched to a plain called Tanduc, from whence he sent to Umcan a 
haughty message, telling him that he had come to lay waste his country 
This challenge was immediately answered, and Umcan led out of his 
city an immense army, which pitched their tents on the plains ten 
miles from the camp of Zingis. Learning this fact, Zingis commanded his 
astrologers to predict for him the result of the battle which was about to be 
fought. The astrologers accordingly cut a reed lengthwise in two parts, and 
writing upon one the word Zingis, and iipon the other, Umcan, set them in the 
ground opposite each other. Then they said unto the Tartar ruler, “ it shall 
come to pass, with the idol’s power, that these two parts of reeds shall fight 
together, and whose part shall fall on the other, the king shall obtain victory 
in the battle.” The astrologers then fell to reciting their prayers, and reading 
their incantations, when presently the parts of the reeds moved and fought 
together, until the part upon which had been written the word Zingis had fallen 
on the part of Umcan. This prediction assured the Tartars of a great victory, 
and thus encouraged, they went into the battle with great precipitation, and 
falling upon the army of Umcan, slew a greater part, and in the rout Umcan 
himself was killed, so that by this means Zingis obtained the daughter of the 
ruler who had so haughtily treated his civil message. 

IMPOSING FUNERAL CEREMONIES AT THE BURIAL OF A KING. 

Zingis continued his prosperous reign for a period of six years thereafter, 
during which time he conquered many provinces. But while besieging a certain 

(102) 











UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


103 



castle called Thaigin, lie was shot in the knee by an arrow, from which wound 
he soon afterwards died, and was buried somewhere in the Altai mountain. In 
this mountain all the rulers and princes of the blood of Ziugis were buried, 
however remote may have been the place at which they died. When the royal 
corpse was being carried to this sepulchre in the mountains, the soldiers who 
attended the funeral were commanded to kill all persons that they met on the 
way, saying, “ Go and serve our Lord the King in another life.” They like¬ 
wise killed the best horses, in the belief that these might serve the royal spirit 


A TARTAR BRIDE. 

in the other world. Polo claims that at the burial of Kubla Khan the soldiers 
accompanying the procession slew no less than ten thousand men, and half as 
many horses. The successor of Zingis was Klien-Khan, the next was Bathyn- 
Khan, the fourth Efu-Khan, the fifth Mangu-Khan, and the sixth Kubla-Khan, 
who was the ruler of all Tartary at the time of Marco’s visit. 

MUSK ANIMALS OF TARTARY. 

In the region beyond Caracarum, Marco mentions another famous city 
named Cinguy, which was the name also of a province tributary to the Grand 
Khan in Tangut. The people were divided into Christians, Mohammedans and 







104 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


idolaters, but were generally peacefully inclined and given to pastoral pursuits. 
In this region, he avers, were to be found wild oxen, nearly as large as ele¬ 
phants, in which description we recognize the Yaks, peculiar to Tartary. He 
relates that the best musk in the world is also to be obtained in this province, 
and that it is taken from a beast of about the size of a goat, having - hair like 
a stag, feet and tail like a gazelle, but is destitute of horns. It has four teeth, 
two above and two beneath, of the length of three fingers, and as white as 
ivory. When the moon is at the full, near the navel of this beast there grows 
what Marco calls an imposthume or bladder, full of blood; and the animal 
being taken in the full moon, this swelling is cut off and dried in the sun, 
from which is obtained the valuable musk for which that country is famous. 



WIX.D SHEEP OF TARTARY. 


Here also are to be found the beautiful Himalayan pheasants, with their 
dazzling and iridescent tails as much as five feet in length. 

The next great city of special consequence visited by Marco was that of 
Jangamur, which means the White Lake, wherein was built a very large palace 
for the accommodation of Kubla Khan, when he had occasion to go upon a 
sporting expedition, which he did two or three times a year. In this region 
were many lakes and rivers, in which were great abundance of swans, cranes, 
and on the ridges pheasants, partridges and other fowl. 

Three days’ journey north-eastward lay the city of Ciandu, where the Great 
Khan built the most marvellous palace of marble and other stones to be found 
in the entire empire. This he had surrounded by an impregnable wall sixteen 




















■flSSjSSZSMr V 


COPYRIGHT 1891, 


Zenghis Khan receiving the daughter < 



' J'-/ ■ m 


Wp> : / 

JlWllw 



.w |J|y 




IfS 




























Miff m 





HISTORICAL PUB. CO., PHILA., PA., U. 6. A. 


Umcan, and the Spoils of the battle 

























































































UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


105 


miles in circuit, a portion of which was again divided, so as to form an 
enclosure or park, which was stocked with deer and other game, and where 
hawks and gerfalcons were trained for hunting purposes. Here the Great 
Khan usually dwelt during the months of June, July and August, on the 28th 
of which latter month, at the time of his departure, he made a solemn sacrifice. 
Within this wall the Khan also maintained a herd of ten thousand white 
horses and as many mares, the latter being kept for the milk which they 
yielded, and which none were permitted to drink except they were of the 
imperial lineage of Zingis-Khan, or of one family called Boriat, which had been 
granted this privilege for the great valor some member had shown upon a past 
occasion. 

MARVELLOUS POWER OF THE ASTROLOGERS. 

Marco tells us that the astrologers instructed the Khan that, on the 28th 
of the moon of August, he should distribute the milk of the white mares in 
honor of the spirits and 
of his idols, that they 
might thus be persuaded 
to preserve all the things 
which he possessed. 

These astrologers were 
divided into parties called 
Chebeth and Chesmu, 
who in the midst of 
storms ascended to the 
top of the palace and by 
their incantations permit¬ 
ted no rain to fall thereon. 

Notwithstanding their 
supernatural power, they 
had a horrible custom 
of dressing and eating the criminals condemned to death by imperial judgment. 
But though they had great liking for such food, they would not touch the body 
of one who died naturally. Marco ascribes to them most extraordinary power, 
and relates that whenever the Great Khan sat at his table it was raised eight 
yards high; and in the midst of the hall, a good distance from the table, was 
a large cupboard of plate from which these sorcerers caused wine and milk to 
fill the goblets without any hand touching them. 

After thus hastily describing the palace of Kubla Khan at Ciandu, and the 
royal treasurers, and the power of the sorcerers, which was exercised always for the 
benefit of the king, Marco tells us of the extraordinary resources and valor of 
Kubla Khan, to whose quick understanding and decisive action was due the 
suppression of a formidable insurrection headed by his uncle Naiam, who had 
placed himself at the head of five hundred thousand trained cavalrymen. Kubla 



PI.AN OF CIANDU. 








106 UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 

having learned of the intentions of his uncle did not, however, wait to be 
attacked, but taking the initiative, travelled with extraordinary speed, and succeeded 
in surprising Naiarn in the night, and falling on the rebels he routed them 
with extraordinary slaughter. He also took Naiam captive, and put him to 
death by ordering the rebel to be sewed up in a carpet and tossed until he 


ASTROLOGERS ON THE PALACE ROOF. 

expired, this peculiar execution being accomplished in order to prevent the 
shedding of royal blood. 

THE HAREM OF THE GREAT KHAN. 

Polo thus describes the personal appearance of Kubla Khan, for whom he 
conceived a great attachment, which was undoubtedly reciprocated by the great 
Tartar ruler: “He is,” says Marco, “a comely man, of middle stature, of a 



































UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


107 



very fresh complexion, black and bright eyes, well-fashioned nose, and all the 
lineaments of his body in due proportion. He has four wives who are esteemed 
lawful, and the first born of them is to succeed him in the kingdom, and every 
one of them is called Empress, and holdeth a peculiar court, and that in a 
magnificent palace, having about three hundred women to attend her, and many 
eunuch servants, and at least ten thousand persons in their families.” In addi¬ 
tion to these wives the Grand Khan also had many concubines, which he 


EXECUTION OF NAIAM. 

recruited from a nation of fair people among the Tartars called Virgut, among 
whom he sent ambassadors every two years in search of the fairest women 
that they were able to find. These ambassadors usually returned with four or 
five hundred handsome damsels who, however, were subjected to a rigid examina¬ 
tion, and from the large number only twenty or thirty of the most beautiful 
were generally received. The candidates for the royal harem were very closely 
scrutinized, and even of the thirty thus chosen sometimes only a small propor¬ 
tion was finally accepted; for these latter, says Polo, were first placed under the 


























108 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


care of his barons’ wives, who determined if they had sweet breaths or snored 
in their sleep, or if their behavior was in any wise offensive. Those that were 
finally approved were divided into fives, which took their turn in waiting 
upon the Emperor, and served him in all his desires. 

THE BEWILDERING PALACE AT CAMBALUC. 

The greatest palace which Kubla Khan maintained, where he resided during 
the months of December, January, and February, was at his capital in Cambaluc, 
supposed to be the modern Pekin, which is in the north-east borders of Cathay. 



FEAST OF THE CANNIBAE PRIESTS. 


This magnificent city and the palace which the Emperor had caused there to be 
built, are particularly described by Marco, whose representation is that of one of 
the grandest cities that any king ever conceived. We will quote from our distin¬ 
guished Venetian traveler : “ First there is a great wall, each square being eight 

miles, with a deep ditch environing, and a gate in the middle of each ; after 
which is a space of a mile in circuit where soldiers stand; after this is another 
court of six miles square, with three gates on the south square, and three 
on the north ; that which is in the midst being in both the greater, and kept 
shut, except when the Khan passeth that way; the other is always open to 








































































































UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


109 


others ; in each corner of this wall, and in the midst is a fair palace (arsenal), 
eight in all, very large, in which are kept the Khan’s ammunitions, and furni¬ 
ture of all sorts; horses in one; in another bows and shooting artillery; in a 
third castlets, cuirasses, and leather armor; and so in the rest. 

THE WALLS OF THE CITY. 

“Within this circuit is another walk like the former, very thick and ten 
paces high, all the battlements white, the walls square, each square a mile in 
length, with six gates as the former, and eight palaces also very large, wherein 
are the Khan’s provisions; between these two last walls are also many fair 
trees and meadows, in which are deer with other game, and store of grass, 
the paths being raised two cubits to spare it; and no dirt or puddles being therein. 



AVENUE OF STATUES IN CAMBAL.UC. 

Within this last wall is the palace of the Great Khan, the greatest that hath 
been seen, extending to the wall on the north and south, and opening where 
the barons and soldiers pass. It hath no ceiling, but a very high roof; the 
foundation of the pavement is ten palms high, with a wall of marble around 
about it two paces wide, as it were a walk. At the end of the wall without is a 
fair turret with pillars. In the walls of the halls and chambers are carved 
dragons, soldiers, birds, beasts of divers kinds, histories of wars gilded; the 
roof is so made that nothing is seen but gold and imagery; in every square 
of the palace is a great hall, capable of holding a multitude of people; the 
chambers are disposed the best that may be devised. The roof is red, green, 
azure, and all colors. Behind the palace are great rooms and private store¬ 
houses for his treasure and jewels, for his women and other private purposes. 

“ Over against the said palace of the Khan is another for Zingis his son, 
















baluc signifies the city of the Lord or Prince. This city the Great Khan 
removed to the other side of the river where the palaces are, for he understood 
by the astrologers that it would rebel against the empire. This new-built city 
is called Taivu, and he commanded all the Cathayans to go out of the old 
city into the new; which contains in compass four and twenty miles, every 
side of the square containing six miles. It hath walls of earth ten paces thick 
at the bottom, and at the top but three, as growing by little and little thinner. 
The battlements are white; every square of the wall hath three principal 
gates, which are twelve in all, having sumptuous palaces built over them. 
There are also certain pavilions in the angles of the walls where the arms of 
the garrison, which are one thousand at each gate, are kept; the buildings are 


110 UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 

whose court was in all things like his father’s. Near this palace towards the 
north is a mount made by hand, a mile in compass, one hundred paces high, 
adorned with trees that are always green; unto this mountain the king com¬ 
mands all the trees to be brought from remote parts, lading elephants with them, 
for they are taken up with the roots, and are transplanted in this mountain; 
and because this mountain is always green, it is called the Green Mountain; 
and where the earth of the mount is taken away are two lakes answering each 
other, with a small river supplying them with stored fish, and so grated that 
the fish cannot get out. 

BATTLEMENTS AND STREETS OF THE CAPITAL. 

“ The city of Cambaluc in the province of Cathay, seated on a great 
river, was famous, and the royal seat in ancient times; and this name Cam- 


CAMBAEUC AS IT APPEARED TO POEO. 












UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


Ill 



squared, and the streets laid very straight by line throughout the city; so that 
from one gate a free prospect opens throughout the city to the opposite gate; 
having very stately houses built on both sides like palaces with gardens and 
courts, divided according to the heads of families. In the midst of the city is 
a certain noble building, wherein hangeth a very great bell, after the tolling 
whereof in the night no man must go out of his house until the beginning 


BURNING THE BODIES OF IDOLATERS. 

of the day following, except it be for some extraordinary cause, as for a wo¬ 
man in travail, and then they are compelled to carry lights with them. 

UTILIZING THE SOCIAL EVIL. 

“ Without the city of Cambaluc are twelve large suburbs, three or four 
miles long, adjoining to each of the twelve gates, more inhabiting in the 
suburbs than in the city; here merchants and strangers live, each nation hav- 















112 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


ing several store-houses, or burses, in which they lodge. No dead corpse of 
auy man is burned within this city, but the bodies of idolaters are burned 
without the suburbs, where the dead bodies of other sects are buried; and be¬ 
cause a huge multitude of Saracens inhabit there, they have about twenty-five 
thousand harlots in the suburbs and in the city ; and these have a chief cap¬ 
tain appointed over every hundred and thousand, and one general, whose office 
is that when any ambassadors come, or such as have business with the Khan, 
whose charges he defrays, then this captain giveth every ambassador and every 
man of his family, a change of woman every night at free cost, for this is 
their tribute. The guards, every night, carry such to prison whom the}' find 
walking late; and if they be found guilty, they are beaten with cudgels, for 
the Bachsi tell them that it is not good to shed man’s blood ; but many die 
of these beatings. The Great Khan hath in his court twelve thousand horse¬ 
men, which they call Casitan, faithful soldiers of their lord, who guard his 
person, more for state than fear; and four captains have the charge of these, 
whereof every one commandeth three thousand. When one captain, with three 
thousand soldiers within the palace, hath guarded the King for three days and 
nights, another captain with his soldiers succeeds; and so, throughout the year, 
this course of watching by turns is observed. 

THE GREAT KHAN AT DINNER. 

“When on account of any festal day he keeps a solemn court, his table, 
which is higher than the rest of the tables, is set at the north part of the 
hall, his face is to the south, having the first Queen on his left hand, that is, 
his principal wife; and his sons and nephews, and those of the royal blood, on 
his right; yet their table is in a lower place, so that they scarcely touch the 
King’s feet with their hands, the seat of the eldest being higher than the 
rest; the princes sit in a lower place than that; their wives also observe the 
like order: first, the Khan’s sons’ wives and his kinsmen sit lower on the 
left hand, and after those of the lords, and of every captain and nobleman, 
each in their degree and order; and the Emperor himself, while he sits at his 
table, may cast his eyes upon all that feast with him in the hall. There are 
not tables for them all to sit; but the greatest part of the soldiers and barons 
sit on carpets. At all the doors stand two gigantic fellows with cudgels, to 
see that none touch the threshold, which if he does they take his garments 
away, which he must redeem by receiving so many blows as shall be appointed, 
or else lose them. They who serve the King and those sitting at the table 
all of them cover their mouths with silk, lest their breathing should by any 
means touch the King’s meat or drink, and when he hath a mind to drink the 
damsel who giveth it goes back three paces and kneels down, and then the 
barons and all the people kneel, and the musicians sound their instruments. 
There is no cause, since I would avoid prolixity, why I should write anything 
concerning the meats which are brought to the table, how dainty and delicate 
they are, and with what magnificence and pomp they are served. 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


113 


THE KHAN IN HIS BIRTHDAY ROBES. 

“All the Tartars observe this custom, to celebrate the birthday of their 
lord most honorably. The birthday of Kubla is kept the 28th of September, 
and this day he accounteth more solemn than any in the whole year, except 



PROCESSIONAL CELEBRATION OF THE KHAN’S BIRTHDAY. 


the 1 st of February, on which they begin the year. The King, therefore, on 
his birthday, is clothed in a most precious garment of gold, and about two 
thousand barons and soldiers are clothed in the same color of gold, though of 
silk stuff, and a girdle wrought in gold and silver, which is given them with 
8 




















114 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


a pair of shoes. Some wear pearls and garments of great price, who are next 
to the Khan ; and these garments were not worn but on thirteen solemn feasts, 
according to the thirteen moons of the year; all are then clothed like kings. 
This custom is also observed by the Tartars, that on the birthday of the Great 
Khan, all the kings, princes, and nobles, who are subject to his dominions, 
should send presents unto him, as to their Emperor; and they who desire to 
attain any place of dignity or office of him offer their petitions unto twelve 
barons appointed for that purpose ; and what they decree is all one as if the 
Emperor himself had answered them. All people also, of what faith or sect 
soever, whether Christians or Jews, Saracens or Tartars, and Pagans, are bound 
solemnly to call upon their gods, for the life, safety, and prosperity of the 
Great Khan.” 

THE GREAT KHAN AS A HUNTER. 

Marco Polo dwells at great length upon the magnificence of the court of 
the Grand Khan, and gives a picturesque description of the grand hunts in 
which this royal personage indulged two or three times each year. But unlike 
royal sportsmen of to-day, the Grand Khan made his entrance upon the field 
in quest of game in a style of splendor almost if not equally as great as that 
which became him in his court at Cambaluc. Having no fire-arms in that day, 
the King made use of trained leopards, hawks, and gerfalcons, which pursued 
and took the prey before the sight of the great ruler as he reposed in regal 
luxury in the downy bed of a howdah, on the back of one of his elephants. 
The Emperor was also attended upon these hunts by no less than ten thousand 
persons, and sometimes twice that number, the multitudes being protected at 
night in vast tents spread upon the plains. Describing these tents, Marco Polo 
says: “ The first is the Khan’s pavilion, under which ten thousand soldiers 

stand, besides barons and noblemen, with the door to the south, sustained by 
three pillars, wrought with curious and excellent carved work, and covered 
with the skins of lions and other wild beasts, which keep out rain; but within, 
the walls of the pavilion are covered with most costly skins of ermines and 
sables, although in those countries these skins are accounted most precious, so 
that sometimes skins worth two thousand sultanines of gold are scarce sufficient 
for one pair of vests. The Tartars call the sable the queen of furs. The cords 
wherewith these pavilions are supported are of silk. There are also other 
pavilions erected, wherein the wives, sons, and concubines of the king remain. 
Further also the falcons, hawks, gerfalcons, and other birds, which serve for 
hawking, have their tents; for there is so great a multitude of tents that to 
them that come thither it seems at a distance as if a famous city was built 
there.” It thus appears that the royal court, fully equipped, was present wherever 
the king might appear, and it is not improbable that he issued royal mandates 
from the howdah in which he made his bed, for his absence on these hunts was 
generally for a period of three months, during which time he was lavish in his 
distributions among the poor who hovered about the camp. 


The; granu khan starting on the HUNT; 



(115) 

























































































































































































































116 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


EXTRAORDINARY RICHES OF THE GREAT KHAN. 

The inconceivable sumptuousness of all the surroundings of the Grand 
Khan, and the extraordinary wealth which he amassed is easily accounted for, 
when we consider the scheme which he employed for collecting and retaining 
the gold that was brought into his kingdom. Thus Marco Polo says, “ The 
money of the Great Khan is not made of gold or silver or other metal; but 
they take the middle bark from the' mulberry tree, and this they make firm, 
and cut into divers round pieces, great and little, and imprint the king’s mark 
thereon; of this paper money therefore the Emperor causeth a huge mass to 
be made in the city of Cambaluc which sufficeth for the whole empire, and no 
man under pain of death may coin any other, or spend any other money, or 
refuse it in all his kingdoms and countries; nor any coming from another 
kingdom dare spend any other money in the empire of the Great Khan. Hence 
it follows that merchants, often coming from remote countries unto the city of 
Cambaluc bring with them gold, silver, pearl, and precious stones, and receive 
the king’s money for them; and because this money is not received in their 
country, they change it again, in the empire of the Great Khan, for mer¬ 
chandise, which they carry away with them.” 

It is small wonder that Columbus and his contemporaries should have been 
carried away with the reports of Marco Polo, at the prospect of sharing with 
the Grand Khan, either by conquest or commercial relations, the vast stores of 
precious metal which he must have had in his treasury; for Marco Polo says 
that there was not a king to be found in all the world whose treasures 
exceeded that of the Great Khan. 

THE WISDOM AND GENEROSITY OF THE EMPEROR. 

But if the Emperor was covetous in making a great collection of precious 
stones and the more precious metals, he was equally considerate of the wants 
of his people, and established measures for their relief in times of great scarcity, 
and appointed officers to relieve also the necessities of those who were im¬ 
poverished by accident or other unfortunate cause. Of this kindly disposition 
of the Grand Khan Marco Polo writes: “ He sends yearly to the divers 

provinces of his empire to inquire whether any prejudice be done to the corn 
by tempests, locusts, worms, or other means; and when he hath notice given 
him that any province or city hath sustained any damage, he remits his tribute 
to that people for that year, and sends grain for victuals and for seed out of his 
own granaries ; for in a time of great plenty the King buys abundance of corn, 
and keeps it with great care by his officers three or four years in granaries 
that when there happens to be a scarcity of corn in one country, that defect 
may be supplied out of the king’s storehouses in another. He selleth his 
grain for a fourth part of the common price, and always provides that his store¬ 
houses are kept fully supplied. Likewise when any murrain lights among 
cattle, he sends them other cattle, which he has for tenths in other provinces; 
and if a thunderbolt has stricken any beast of any herd or flock, he receives no 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


117 


tribute from it for three years, let the herd be ever so great; neither will he 
receive any custom of a thunder-stricken sheep, as thinking God is angry with 
them that are stricken.” This wise provision was a very much more liberal 
one than was made by the early Jewish rulers, or by any modern sect or reli¬ 
gionists who have exacted tithings from their followers. 

THE KING’S CARE OF THE POOR. 

The king’s provident care for the unfortunate in the various provinces of 
his kingdom was yet more liberal in the bestowals which he made upon the 
poor of Cambaluc, for Polo says: “ When the King hears of any honorable 
family decayed by misfortune, or of any which cannot work, and have no sub¬ 
sistence, he gives to * such families the whole year’s expenses, each head of such 
families going to the officer for that purpose, and, showing the bill of allow¬ 
ance, receives provisions accordingly. There is a place set apart for those 
officers; they are provided also with garments for winter and for summer. 
The Khan receives a tenth of all wool, silk and hemp produced in his country, 
which he causes to be made into clothes, in a house for that purpose appointed; 
for all trades are bound one day in the week to work for him. He provides 
also apparel for his armies, and in every city causeth cloth to be made of his 
tithe wool. You must understand that the Tartars, according to their ancient 
customs, bestowed no alms, but rather upbraided those that were in necessity, 
as hated of God; but the idolaters, especially those Bachsi, have propounded 
it as a good work acceptable unto God, and have taught him to be thus 
bountiful; so that in this court bread is never denied to any who ask it, and 
there is no day in which is not given away twenty thousand crowns in rice, 
millet and panike; wherefore he is esteemed as a god by his subjects.” It is 
possible that Sir Thomas More obtained from this account of Polo’s the ideas 
for his Utopian Government. 

Marco mentions a very curious thing which he had not seen elsewhere, 
that in the province of Cathay there were to be found certain black stones, 
which, being dug, were used as fuel, and which burned a much longer time 
and gave greater heat than wood. This reference is manifestly to coal, which 
was discovered in the eastern countries shortly before the twelfth century, and 
which was so little known in England that it was first used in London in 
1240, nor was it in common use until sixty years later. 







CHAPTER IX. 


!N THE LAND OF GOLD AND UGLY BEASTS. 

Marco Polo had remained a considerable 
while at the court of Cambaluc and had exe¬ 
cuted several special missions for the Emperor, 
he seems to have travelled to the westward 
for several days, but upon what special func¬ 
tion he neglects to state. The narrative, we 
may mention, is hardly a consecutive one, 
and hence to follow the writer is to proceed, 
at times, with considerable indefiniteness. 
He states that after departing from the city 
called Jaci, and travelling ten days’ journey 
westward, he came to a city called Carazan, 
which was governed by a son of the Khan. 
The rivers in the immediate region were dis¬ 
tinguished as yielding great quantities of 
gold, both in dust and nuggets, while on the mountains near by was an auri¬ 
ferous vein of gold of such remarkable richness that gold was exchanged at the 
ratio of one of gold for six of silver. But notwithstanding this plentifulness 
of the precious metals, it was not used for money, porcelain being substituted 
instead. The inhabitants here, like those in nearly all the other cities described, 
were idolaters, and by the inference which we gain from his descriptions they 
were quite barbaric. 

POLO CONFOUNDS CROCODILES WITH SERPENTS. 

Polo speaks of the country being infested with great serpents, growing to 
a length of thirty feet, and bodies of proportionate thickness. He describes 
them as having two little feet near the head, armed with three talons or claws 
like lions, while their eyes were larger than a loaf, and of exceeding bright¬ 
ness. They had mouths and jaws so very wide that they were able to swallow 
a man, and with teeth so strong and sharp that they were able to rend the 
largest animals; they indeed attacked and devoured lions, wolves and other 
beasts. Their appearance struck great terror to the natives, who destroyed 
them by fastening iron spikes in the tracks through which these great animals 
usually passed, and as these trails were invariably followed by the animals in 
going to and from the water, they thus empaled themselves upon the sharp 
instruments thus set. When the animal was killed, the native hunters took 
off the skin, which they used for various purposes; but the most precious thing 

(118) 











UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


119 


obtained from the creature was its gall, which the people used as a medicine, 
esteeming it of the greatest virtue for the curing of mad-dog bites, and for 
carbuncles and all malignant eruptions. It is not difficult for us to determine, 
though the description is inexact, that the creatures thus described were croco¬ 
diles such as infest all the rivers of the lower countries of Asia. 

THE TARTAR ROBBERS AND THEIR MEANS OF PREVENTING TORTURE. 

The Tartars of that region were great robbers, and being armed with spears 
and strong bows, and protected with an armor made of the hides of crocodiles 
and buffaloes, they were enabled to overcome any small party whom they went 
against. Living by robbery and rapine, they provided themselves against every 
emergency, and as they carried death in all their attacks, so they expected that 
their crimes would sooner or later bring them to a more wretched end; for it 
was customary at that time to put such felons to death, when captured, by the 
most horrible tortures. The robbers carried with them a potent poison which 
they swallowed when they found themselves unable to escape; but to prevent 
them from dying in this manner, and thus cheating justice, the lords of the 
Great Khan, who were sent against them, carried potions of dog’s dung which 
they forced the captives to swallow, thus causing them to vomit the poison, 
and leaving them to suffer the tortures which would then be inflicted upon 
them. 

One of the most curious customs practised by the strange people in the 
province of Carazan is thus described by Polo: “ When one of their women 
is once delivered, she forsakes the bed, washes the child and dresses it, and 
then the husband lieth down, and keeps the child with him forty days, not 
suffering it to depart; is visited all that time by friends and neighbors to 
cheer and comfort him. The woman looks to the house, and carries the hus¬ 
band his broths to the bed, and gives suck to the child by him.” 

A GOLD AND SILVER MONUMENT SET OVER THE BODY OF A KING. 

The next remarkable city described by Marco was called Mein, the capital 
of the province of that name, which was a part of the Great Khan’s kingdom. 
But prior to its conquest by Kubla, it was governed by a king whose name 
is not given, but who left a peculiar memento of his sovereignty:—when being 
ready to die, he commanded that near his sepulchre there should be erected 
two towers, in the form of pyramids, one at the head, the other at the feet, 
both of marble, of the height of sixty feet. On the top of each was placed a 
round ball, one of which he caused to be covered all over with gold a finger 
thick, and the other with silver; and upon the top, round about the balls, were 
made many little gold and silver bells, which were so hanged that the wind im¬ 
parted to them a swinging motion, and caused them to send forth a pleasant, 
tinkling sound. The domes of these towers were covered with plates, one of gold 
and the other of silver, but of what thickness our traveller does not state. These 
two monuments were set up in honor of his soul, and with the intent that his 
memory should never die among men. When Kubla Khan undertook to sub- 


120 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 



due the city of Mein he sent the greater part of his army, which was composed 
of cavalry, nnder his most valiant general, who made such an onslaught upon 
the city that it fell into his hands with small resistance; but while it was the 
custom to demolish or burn the buildings of cities thus acquired by conquest, 
the general would not consent to such vandalism as the destruction of the 
gold and silver towers without first communicating with the Emperor and 
ascertaining his will. To the great credit of the Tartar monarch, let it be 


said, that upon ascertaining that the monument was erected in honor of the 
soul of a great ruler, he immediately commanded that the towers be preserved 
from injury, to the end particularly that no violence might be done to the 
things which belonged to the dead. It is very evident, from the description 
thus given of Mein, that it must have been the modern Burmah, formerly called 
the Old Pagan, on the Irawada river, which has from time immemorial been 
the royal residence. 


CITY OF MEIN AND TOMB OF THE EMPEROR. 








UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


121 



Eastward of Mein was the province of Cangigu, which was also a country 
yielding vast quantities of gold, and which lay near the sea. These people 
are described as being handsomely made, and given much to the practice of 
tattooing, which Polo describes as a process of embroidering the flesh. 

THE LION HUNTERS OF CINTIQUI. 

Eastward of Cangigu is Amu, where the people worshipped idols and made 
sacrifices to them both of flesh and the products of the field. The people were 
very wealthy, both men and women wearing bracelets of gold and silver of 


great value on their arms and legs. The province of Tholoman, which is eight 
days further eastward, was also remarkable for its wealth of the precious metals; 
but in no place was either gold or silver used as money, porcelain • being sub¬ 
stituted instead. At Cintiqui Marco found the people little addicted to such 
finery as distinguished the neighboring provinces to the west. Instead, there¬ 
fore, of adorning their bodies with gold and silver ornaments, they used only 
the simplest cloths, made from the bark of trees, which, however, were dexter¬ 
ously made and worn most becomingly. Many lions were found in that region, 


THE LION HUNTERS OF CINTIQUI. 














122 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


and which betrayed such ferocity that the people never exposed themselves at 
night, and even the vessels sailing on the river never approached the bank at 
night-time, but anchored in mid stream. The natives, however, hunted these 
lions with dogs of extraordinary size and ferocity. The native hunter, armed 
with bow and arrow, boldly disputed with the king of beasts by the aid of his 
powerful dogs which he sent in to worry the animal, while he made his attack 
from behind, and was thus able to give the lion a mortal arrow wound without 
incurring any great danger himself. 








CHAPTER X. 


A REMARKABLY JUST EMPEROR. 

VER the fairest portion of Cangigu Marco Polo 
wandered, everywhere meeting with generous 
hospitality, but after leaving the two cities 
last described he entered the district of Mangi, 
which he represents as being the richest and 
most famous found anywhere in the East. This 
province is supposed to be the lower half of China, 
proper, the upper portion being designated as 
Cathay proper. Up to the year 1269, Mangi 
was governed by a king called Fanfur, who was 
richer and mightier than any ruler that had 
preceded him for a hundred years, and his 
greatness was such that he feared no invader; 
and as his kingdom had been at peace a great 
length of time he gave no heed to the possi¬ 
bility of interruption from neighboring powers. He thus surrendered himself 
to all manner of pleasures until he at length became entirely unfitted to be the 
governor of so great a country. But with all his sensuality, he was reputed 
to be a man who ruled with justice, and who had the tenderest regard for his 
people. His laws were so equitable and dispensed with such regard for the 
rights of all classes that no one, however powerful, might in any manner wrong 
the humblest, without being visited with the severest punishment. These laws 
provided such perfect protection that Polo avers artificers would often leave their 
shops full of wares open by night, without the least fear of molestation, while 
travellers and strangers safely walked day and night over the whole kingdom 
fearless of anyone. The King himself was also merciful towards the poor, and 
looked with a tender regard upon all oppressed with any necessity, or suffering 
from penury. In addition to the carefulness with which he regarded the 
poor, he established foundling asylums in which as many as twenty thousand 
infants whose parents were for any cause unable to properly provide for them 
were cared for every year. These children were brought up at the expense of the 
court, and when grown the two sexes were intermarried and then set at various 
occupations by the Emperor. But while Fanfur had given attention to the 
poor and to the impartial administration of justice, he had not protected his 
kingdom against invaders; so in the year mentioned (1269), as Marco Polo 
relates, Kubla Khan, whose disposition was that of one bent upon conquest, 

( 123 ) 







124 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


made an invasion into Mangi, and after assaulting several of the chief cities, he 
easily made himself master of that country. Indeed, Fanfur offered no 

opposition whatever, 


for at the earliest in¬ 
timation of Kubla’s 
approach he sought 
safety on a vessel 
and departed to some 
island of the Archi¬ 
pelago, where he 
died, first, however, 
committing the cus¬ 
tody of his chief city, 
Quinsai, to his wife. 
At the capitulation 
of Quinsai, the wife 
of Fanfur was cap- 
^ tured and taken to 
g the court of the 
« Great Khan, where, 
o instead of being de¬ 
ll tained and subjected 
| to indignity she re- 
< ceived the most hon- 
§ orable treatment and 
was maintained like 
a queen until her 
death some years 
later. 

One of the chief 
cities of Mangi, vis¬ 
ited by Marco, was 
Sainfu, which is de¬ 
scribed as abounding 
with fabulous wealth 
of silks, and cloths 
of gold, and which 
was so strongly for¬ 
tified that a three 
years’ besiegement 

by an enormous army of Tartars failed to effect its capture, and thus it con¬ 
tinued in security until the invasion of Kubla Khan. The city was situated 
on a great river and enjoyed an enormous commerce with neighboring countries 


































UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


125 


and islands of the Pacific along which at that time were situated many great 
cities. The subjugation of this place was accomplished through the ingenuity of 
the uncle and father of Marco Polo, to whom Kubla applied for suggestions how 
he might overcome the city which had for three years resisted every effort its for¬ 
mer besiegers had made for its capture. At the suggestion of the two Venetians, 
powerful engines were devised after the manner of those used by the Romans 
and Greeks in their earliest wars, by which great stones and projectiles of as 
much as three hundred weight were cast over the walls of fortified cities, to the 
destruction of the buildings within. The two Venetians drew specifications and 
gave instructions how these great machines of war might be built, and under 
whom the Khan appointed carpenters who made three of the engines in a short 
while, and setting them on ships Marco’s relatives sailed away for Sainfu, and 
having anchored before the walls, they began a terrific bombardment of the city. 
The first stone thus thrown fell upon a certain house supposed to have been 
a part of the imperial quarters, and demolishing it so alarmed the besieged 
inhabitants, who were unable to comprehend the nature of this new weapon 
brought against them, that they speedily capitulated. 

A WONDROUSLY RICH AND POPULOUS COUNTRY. 

The enormous population and extraordinary wealth of Mangi may be esti¬ 
mated by a statement of Polo which is to the effect that in the country there 
were twelve thousand cities, all inhabited by rich and industrious people, in 
each of which a large garrison was maintained, in none less than one thousand, 
and in the largest twenty thousand soldiers. In the city of Quinsai, which 
is reputed to have been the richest city of Mangi, there was a garrison of 
thirty thousand soldiers, this place being esteemed not only for its enormous 
population, but for the grandeur of its buildings, and especially the palace 
built by King Fanfur, which occupied a site near the centre of the city. The 
palace proper was within an inclosure of ten miles circuit, defended by very 
high walls, and divided into three parts; that in the midst was entered by a 
gate on the one side, while on the other were great and large galleries, over 
which was a roof sustained by pillars, painted and wrought in pure gold and 
fine azure. By the entrance of the others there were also galleries, equally 
rich with ornaments of gold and silver, and the walls were also gorgeously 
painted, lending a dazzling appearance to the several entrances. The grounds 
were also diversified by lakes, in which were many islands where were grown 
flowers of every hue, and where sported birds of as many, colors. On the 
lake was also a royal barge, which the King and Queen used for recreation 
and in which to visit the idol temples that were set up on the islands. 
Another division of the palace grounds was devoted to a game preserve where 
such beasts as roebucks, stags, hares, conies, etc., were kept for the king’s 
divertisement, who, when going upon the hunt, was accompanied by a thou¬ 
sand of his concubines, so that his manner of hunting was not unlike that 
of Kubla Khan, already described. During these hunts, however, no men 



(126) 


the empress fanfur and her barge. 
































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


127 


were permitted to accompany the Emperor, these privileges being accorded 
only to the ladies of his seraglio, who, having tired of the chase, would di¬ 
vest themselves of’ their garments, and sport in the lake in the king’s 
presence. 

THE MAN-EATERS OF FUGIU. 

To the south-east of Quinsai, Marco Polo came to a city called Fugiu, 
which was occupied by merchants who were subjects of the Khan. The city 
was beautifully situated among fertile hills and dales, but which were not cul¬ 
tivated to any considerable extent, the principal products being ginger, and 
some other spices which Polo neglects to mention. While the inhabitants of 
Fugiu are represented as merchants, they are also described as a people ad- 



BATTLE ships of the CATHAYANS. 


dieted to vicious customs and beastly practices. While they had an abundance 
of animals, they preferred human flesh to that of all other meat, and as Marco 
Polo says, “They commonly eat man’s flesh, if the person die not of sick¬ 
ness, as better tasted than others. When they go into the field they shave to 
the ears, and paint their faces with azure; they are very cruel, and when they 
kill an enemy, presently drink his blood, and afterward eat his flesh.” 

GREAT VESSELS IN THE INDIA TRADE. 

Still further to the south-east, probably in Corea, but in a realm which 
Polo calls Concho, was a great seaport city, Zaitum, which enjoyed a most 
lucrative commerce with India, so that the port was always filled with the mer¬ 
chant vessels from that country. From the custom duties levied upon the 










128 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


merchandise brought into Mangi through this port, the Khan received an 
enormous revenue, as he exacted a tenth of all the importations. But notwith¬ 
standing this exaction, and that the hire of vessels cost merchants the half of 
their goods, the traffic was conducted with great profit. The ships used in 
this trade are thus described by Marco Polo: “ They are made of fir, with 

one deck, on which are twenty cabins, more or less according to the bigness 
of the ships, each for one merchant. They have a good rudder, and four masts 
with four sails, and some two masts which they either raise or take down at 
pleasure. Some greater ships have thirteen divisions on the inside, made with 
boards enchased, so that if by a blow of a whale, or a touch of a rock, water 
gets in, it can go no farther than that division, and the leak being found it is 
soon stopped. They are double, that is, have two courses of boards, one 
within the other, and are well caulked with oakum, and nailed with iron, but 
not pitched, for they have no pitch, but anointed with an oil of a certain tree 
mixed with lime and hemp, beaten small, which binds faster than pitch or lime. 
The greater ships have three hundred mariners, the others two hundred, or one 
hundred and fifty. They use also small oars in these ships, four men to one 
oar. They have also with them ten small boats for fishing and other services, 
fastened to the sides of the larger ships, and let down when they please to use 
them.” It thus appears that the vessels used in this India-Cathay trade in the 
thirteenth century would compare favorably with the largest sailing vessels of 
the present day, in which, indeed, it appears there have been no material 
improvements except in the use of sails. It is curious also to note that these 
vessels were built in compartments to prevent sinking, and that each was 
provided with cabins for passengers, as our modern vessels are to-day. 

THE FIGHT FOR ZIPANGU. 

From the seacoast of Mangi, Marco Polo seems to have taken a trip to 
Japan, which he calls Zipangu, the people of which he describes as being of 
a white complexion and gentle behavior, and whose religion was that of idolatry.. 
These people, at the time of Marco’s visit, had not been entirely subjugated by 
Kubla, and therefore continued to live in peace and contentment with their vast 
possessions. They had little intercourse with other peoples, and those who 
came to visit them for trade were not permitted under any circumstances to 
take any gold away with them, of which these Japanese, Polo declares, possessed 
enormous quantities. So great, indeed, was the king’s possession of the precious 
metal that his house was covered with gold, and its walls were gilded with the 
same, and its floors were made of beaten gold. The people were also said tO' 
be opulent with precious pearls, yielded by oysters in the bays and inlets of 
the island. Reports of these fabulous riches having reached Kubla Khan, he 
sent two of his barons with a great fleet of ships to conquer the people; but 
arriving there, the two commanders fell out after capturing one city, so that 
their enterprise resulted in small profit. Polo states that after the two jealous- 
commanders had taken the city, they beheaded all their captives, except eight 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


129 


persons, who w r ore enchanted precious stones enclosed in the right arm between 
the skin and flesh, so that these eight favorites of the guardian spirits could 
not be wounded with iron. The enchantment, however, was broken by the use 
of a wooden club with which the two barons commanded that the last eight 
should be slain. 

Directly after landing at Zipangu, a furious storm assailed the ships and 
scattered them, so that several were driven out of their course and on to 
reefs, and wrecked. But as many as thirty thousand of the crews sought 
safety on an island, four miles off Japan, to which they managed to escape, 



IDOLATRY OF THE JAPANESE- 


but destitute of arms and provision. The people of Zipangu, learning of the 
helpless condition of the wrecked crews, sent a fleet with the intention of 
destroying the refugees. Upon landing on the island, they left their ships, 
and sought the Tartars, who had concealed themselves behind a high land, 
and who, observing the movements of their enemies, retreated around the pro¬ 
tecting hills, as the Zipanguans came in sight, and being swift of foot con¬ 
trived to reach the abandoned ships and to set sail, leaving the Zipanguans 
themselves unable to escape. The Tartars now having another fleet, which 
they had so ingeniously captured, sailed again for Zipangu and laid siege to 
its chief city, which they succeeded in capturing after a six months’ besiege- 


o 









































130 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 



rnent. This happened in 1264, or nearly twenty years before Marco Polo’s 
visit to the East. 

EXECUTION OF THE TWO BARONS. 

The Great Khan, having heard of the jealousy of his two commanders, 

to which was due the destruction of so many of his ships, had them brought 

before him, and after due inquiry he ordered that the head of one be cut off, 
and commanded that the other be taken to a desert island called Zerga, a place 
to which were sent culprits condemned to death by a singular means of tor¬ 
ture :—the offender’s hands were bound in the fresh hide of a buffalo, which, 

in drying, shrank so that the hands of the victim were kept in inconceivable 
torture until death at last ended his indescribable miseries. 


From the island of Japan, Marco Polo started on a voyage to the Chinese 
Sea, around the Malay Archipelago, and thence to India, having been the first 
European visitor to the island of Japan, as he was the first to enter China. 
We have from him some quaint descriptions of the peoples and animals which 
he met upon the islands of the East Indies. The most of his descriptions, 
however, concern Borneo and Java, which he calls the Greater and the Less Java. 
In the former he found many Saracens, drawn thither by promises of a lu¬ 
crative trade with the neighboring Malays of the Continent. He saw numer¬ 
ous cities, but of what size or consequence he does not mention, but leaves us to 
infer that their inhabitants were of a very low order of humanity. He says that 
in the cities “ the mountaineers are very beastly, eating man’s flesh and all 
kinds of impure food, and worship all day what they first see in the mom- 


FEEET OF THE GRAND KHAN. 

















UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


131 



ing.” The Khan exercised authority over these islands, but he seems to have 
derived no other revenue from them than occasional consignments of hawks, 
the population being too beastly to produce more valuable things. 

THE UNICORN OF BORNEO AND THE CANNIBALS OF JAVA. 

On Borneo Polo also found many savage beasts, such as elephants and 
unicorns, the latter being the rhinoceros which is still occasionally to be seen 
on several of the islands of the Archipelago. These Polo describes in the fol¬ 
lowing unique manner: “Their feet are like elephants’ feet, they have one horn 
in the midst of their forehead, and hurt none therewith, but with the tongue 


BORNEAN UNICORN KILUING A HUNTER. 

and knee; for on their tongues are certain long prickles, and sharp, and when 
they hurt any they trample on him, and press him down with their knees, 

and then tear him to pieces with their tongue. The head is like a wild 

boar’s, which he carries downward to the ground. They love to stand in the 

mire, and are filthy beasts, and not such as unicorns are said to be in our 

parts, which suffer themselves to be taken by maids, but quite contrary.” 
Polo also says that in that country are certain small apes, which have faces 
so like men that they are put in boxes and preserved with spices, and are 
afterwards sold to merchants, who carry them through the world, showing them 




















132 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


for pigmies or little men. In another of the seven kingdoms into which Bor¬ 
neo was divided, Marco learned of a very singular, and no less abominable 
custom practised by the people:—when one of the natives fell sick his 
friends would send to the sorcerers to inquire whether he should recover. If 
the answer was unfavorable, the kindred sent next for one whose office it was 
to strangle to death those who were considered hopelessly ill. After being 
thus executed, the body was cut in pieces and eaten by the kindred with great 
jollity, even the marrow of the bones being consumed by those voracious people 
under the belief that if any substance of the body remained, worms would be 
bred therefrom, which would afterwards devour the soul of the deceased. These 
natives were also accustomed to killing and eating any strangers who might 
fall into their power, a practice which is not obsolete even to this day, and 
the former custom is still prevalent among the Battas of Sumatra. 

A CITY OFFERED FOR A RUBY. 

From the East Indies Polo sailed to the Island of Ceylon, which he de¬ 
clares to be the finest land in the world. He states that anciently it was 
8600 miles in circumference, as might be seen by maps more than a thousand 
years old, but that constant ravages of the sea have reduced it to its present 
comparatively small proportions. The people, as he found them, were idolaters, 
and used no clothing except a breech-clout. Their products were rice, oil of 
sesame, milk, flesh, and what Polo describes as the wine of trees. But though 
the natives were in a condition of savagery, the country yielded great quanti¬ 
ties of rubies, sapphires, topaz, amethysts, and other gems. Polo says the King 
possessed the finest ruby that was ever seen; that in size it was as long as 
one’s hand, and as big as a man’s arm, without spot, and shining like a fire, 
and which the King valued so highly that he would not part with it for any 
sum of money. Kubla Khan sent and offered the value of a city for it, but 
the possessor’s answer was that he would not give it for the treasure of the 
world nor part with it, not because of its value particularly, but because it had 
been the property of his ancestors. 

A KING’S DRESS LIMITED TO A COLLAR, BREECH-CLOUT AND STRING OF BEADS. 

Polo next visited Malabar, where he found the people equally barbarous, 
and where he was surprised to see the King going about as naked as his sub¬ 
jects, save for the distinction of a collar of precious stones about his neck and 
a thread of silk on his breast with 104 pearls strung upon it, to count his 
prayers by. Though the people showed small cultivation or little ambition to 
rival their more civilized neighbors, they possessed as fine horses as were to be 
found anywhere in the world, bringing them from Ormus, and considering no 
price too great to pay, so that they might have the animal that would suit 
them. Not many of their practices are described by Polo, but among the few, 
he states that condemned persons would offer themselves to die in honor of an 
idol, to which they paid the most devout worship. In case of such self-con¬ 
demnation, these self-executions were performed with twelve- knives, with which 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


133 


as many wounds were made in divers parts of the body, at every blow the 
voluntary martyr exclaiming: “I kill myself in honor of my idol.” The last 
knife thrust was delivered into the heart, after which the body was burned by 
his kindred. The wives also cast themselves into the fire on the bodies of their 
husbands, disrepute following those who refused, a practice which continued a 
considerable while after Great Britain took possession of and ruled India. If 
these people had unholy customs and were moved in many cases by a savage 
barbarity, yet on the other hand they were great lovers of justice, and were 
hospitable to strangers. 

Describing their impartiality and love of a rigid equity, Marco Polo says: 
“Justice is severely administered for crimes, and a creditor may in some cases 
encompass his debtor with a circle, which he dares not pass till he hath paid 
the debt or given security ; if he does, he is to be put to death ; and I once 
saw the King himself on horseback thus encircled by a merchant, whom he 
had long delayed and put off; neither would the King go out of the circle 
which the merchant had drawn till he had satisfied him, the people applauding 
the King’s justice.” 

SOME EXTRAORDINARY STORIES. 

From Ceylon Marco sailed westward and landed on the African coast, 
and also visited Madagascar, and probably the island of Zanzibar. His de¬ 
scriptions of the natives and products of these lands • are grotesque, not con¬ 
cerning what he himself saw, but in repeating stories told to him by others, 
and for whose absurdities he cannot in justice be held responsible. Among 
other astonishing reports which he added to his otherwise valuable history, 
is that of a fabled bird called a roc, which he states was native to the 
East Africa coast, and of such an enormous size that it might easily carry 
away an elephant in its talons. Another story which he soberly relates is 
to the effect that in this same region there is a deep valley in which large 
and most perfect diamonds abounded, but which no man might approach be¬ 
cause of numerous monstrous and poisonous snakes that had their haunts 
there. The only means of obtaining any of these diamonds was by casting 
pieces of fresh meat into the valley, which eagles would voraciously seize and 
carry to a distant perch to devour. As more or less diamonds would adhere 
to the meat, these would drop off while the eagle was eating it, and might 
then be recovered. Both of these stories, soon after their relation by Marco, 
were added to the apocryphal adventures of Sinbad the sailor, and have ever 
since been a part of the Arabian Nights Entertainment. 

Marco Polo returned to Venice in 1298, and after his liberation by the 
Genoese, who held him captive barely one year, he married a rich Venetian 
lady by whom he had three daughters, but what his engagements were up to 
the time of his death, in 1324, history does not tell us. 

THE DISASTERS OF A STORM CULMINATE IN THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. 

Kubla Khan reigned from the year 1259 until 1294 of the Christian era. 
It was towards the close of his reign that he sent a fleet conveying a large 


134 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


army against Japan with the intention of conquering that island country and 
adding it to his kingdom. But the fleet encountered such a dreadful storm 
that it was scattered and scarcely half of the vessels thus sent out ever re¬ 
turned to China. Those thus unaccounted for were supposed to have been 
lost, as Marco Polo relates, but circumstances lend plausible coloring to the 
belief which many now entertain that they met with a better fate. About this 
period, or shortly before the close of the thirteenth century, there sprang up 
in Central and South America two great empires, viz. : those of Mexico and 
Peru, which possessed regular institutes of religion, and which preserving dis¬ 
tinctions of rank were measurably civilized, recognized social bonds, practised 
agriculture, and holding sacred the ties of matrimony forbade polygamy so as 
to protect the right of inheritance. In Mexico, particularly, a higher cultivation 
was to be seen in the hieroglyphic writings in which their history has been 
transmitted. When we consider the fact that both empires were surrounded by 
savage nations in which not a trace of civilization is to be discerned, and that 
being widely separated from each other there is yet discoverable a marked 
similarity of custom, character and cultivation, the supposition seems to be 
justified that both empires were founded by people from the west brought to the 
American shores by accident or design contemporaneously. And if this pre¬ 
sumption be reasonable we must admit the correctness of the theory that they 
were the result of the reestablishment of those supposed to have been lost in 
the expedition to Japan, for the violence of a storm long prevailing may have 
driven them so far out of their reckoning that the shores of America became 
their last refuge. 





CHAPTER XI. 


THE FALSE HOPES OF COLUMBUS. 

the return of Marco Polo, after five years 
of journeying in the far east (through India 
and China), bringing to the civilized world 
report of the extraordinary wealth of the 
empires of that oriental region, many wild 
schemes were projected for reaching those 
remote shores. Among the navigators moved 
by this ambition was Columbus, who held 
to the belief that farther India might be 
reached by sailing westwardly, in which ef¬ 
fort he came upon the West Indies, and for 
a time believed that in these he had found 
the rich country so glowingly described by 
Polo. The discovery of the continent of 
America by Cabot soon followed, as will 
be presently related. But though the importance of this discovery was appre¬ 
ciated, yet there was a consuming ambition to reach the land of Cathay, 
where inconceivable wealth and a higher civilization was believed to preside, 
so that the intervening land of America soon came to be regarded as a barrier 
to these greater attainments. When Columbus finally became undeceived in 
his belief that Cuba was a part of India, he conceived the idea that America 
was but a narrow strip of land, washed on the western side by another sea, 
which he vainly sought to reach through a strait which he thought must 
divide the continent. It was largely to search for such a passage that he 
made his third and fourth voyages, and became a martyr to disappointed am¬ 
bition and to the wiles of designing adventurers who were envious of his 
honors, and more covetous than himself. ✓ 

THE POPE APPORTIONS THE WORLD. 

The court of Spain, however, did not abandon the researches which Colum¬ 
bus had instituted and in which many brave men afterwards perished, but 
whose fate only served to increase the ardor for further discovery. Portugal 
now entered the list, and in its rivalry with Spain, the two countries came into 
frequent collision. The discoveries of the earlier Portuguese navigators, along 
the coast of Africa and outlying islands, had been eclipsed by the more illus¬ 
trious success of Columbus, who had now planted the cross,—as the insignia 

(135) 



> 















136 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 



of conquest and possession,—on a large extent of the coast of South America 
and the rich West Indies. These lay far apart from the Portuguese possessions 
on the African coast, but the jealousies of the two nations became so great 
that Rome was appealed to, being the chief arbiter in all the disputes of the 
European nations, for a settlement of the claims of the two countries. Accord¬ 
ingly, Pope Alexander the VI issued a bull of donation wherein was fixed a 
partition of the possessions already acquired and those which might be ob¬ 
tained through future discovery. These limits were divided by a meridian 
drawn a hundred leagues west of the Azores and Cape De Verde Islands, 
assigning to Spain all lands newly discovered or to be discovered, as far as 

180 degrees to the west 
of this land ; and to Por¬ 
tugal all that land with¬ 
in the same extent, east 
of this meridian. 

England and France 
refused to acknowledge 
the inherent right of the 
Pope to make gifts of un¬ 
known territory, and in 
the face of his edict the 
former power sent out 
explorers without so 
much as a consultation 
with his holiness. France 
acted with equal disre¬ 
spect to the Pope, and, 
without any regard what¬ 
ever for his desires, 
prepared to push her 
conquests in the new 

JOHN CABOT’S FBAG-SHIP. world 

DISCOVERY OF AMERICA BY CABOT. 

In 1496 the English, indifferent to the Pope’s charter of donation, fitted out 
a fleet, conducted under letters-patent from Henry VII., who gave the com¬ 
mand to John Cabot, a native of Venice, who with his three sons, Sebastian, 
Louis and Sanctius, set forth to seek a western passage to the north of the 
new Spanish discoveries, by which he hoped to reach Cathay, which was sup¬ 
posed to be eastern India. In pursuit of this ambition, in 1497 Cabot discovered 
the American Continent, probabfy first landing in Newfoundland, but being 
unable to find the strait which Columbus had also sought for in vain, he 
returned to England, and was loaded with honors b}^ Henry VII., who appre¬ 
ciated to the fullest extent the importance of the continental discovery. His son 















UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


137 


Sebastian made two voyages thereafter, one in 1498 and the other in 1517, on 
which he explored a great extent of the coast from Hudson Bay on the north, 
and as far as Virginia on the south. Like his father, he was compelled to 
return to England without having attained the immediate object of his voyage, 
but he had gained the greater honor and distinction of having coasted a large 
part of the American Continent and obtained an idea of its extent. 

SHIPWRECK AND LOSS OF THE CORTEREAL BROTHERS. 

Three years after the first voyage of Cabot, or in 1500, Gaspar Cortereal, a 
Portuguese gentleman of high birth and great wealth, set sail under the sanc¬ 
tion of King Emanuel, following in the track of the Cabots, and with the 
same object. But instead of pursuing the southerly course after reaching New¬ 
foundland, he believed that 
he might be able to reach 
India through a northwest 
passage, an ambition which 
many navigators have since 
cherished only to suffer the 
same disappointments that 
the Portuguese gentleman 
did. Cortereal, however, dis¬ 
covered the mouth of the St. 

Lawrence, which for a time 
he believed to be the long 
sought-for passage. But be¬ 
ing baffled he turned back 
and sailed along the coast 
of Labrador, and thence to 
Hudson Bay, from which he 
returned again to Portugal; 
and in a second voyage, 
having the same object in 
view, the ship in which he sailed was wrecked, and nothing more was ever 
heard of him. 

His brother, Michael Cortereal, fitted out three ships, and sailed to the 
western continent in search of his lost brother. The vessels arrived at some 
portion of the coast where there were several inlets and river mouths, possibly 
in Chesapeake Bay, and each ship, in the hope of discovering the wrecked 
mariners, took a different course, with the understanding that they should meet 
again at an appointed rendezvous on a fixed day. Two of the vessels returned 
at the designated time, but Michael was as unfortunate as his brother, for 
nothing further was ever heard from him. That both perished is certain, but 
in what manner will always remain a secret with the sea, which tells no tales 
of its dead. 



fleet of GASPAR CORTEREAL. 






138 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 



The third brother had a great desire to set out in search of Gaspar and 
Michael, but the King refused his permission, saying that he would not consent 
to a third sacrifice. In memory of the disastrous fortunes of the Cortereals, 
the mouth of the St. Lawrence was for a long while called by the Portuguese 
“ The Gulf of the Three Brothers,'’ not however, because they are supposed to 
have perished there. 

PINZON’S ADVENTURES. 

The record of hardships and disasters attending many expeditions which 
sailed about this time is a long one. Yet this fatality seemed to act as a 

stimulant upon resolute spirits 
and increased the effort to make 
a complete exploration of the new 
continent, and to reach India. 
No sooner then was one crew 
destroyed than another almost 
immediately embarked in the 
same perilous track in pursuit 
of honor and wealth, impelled 
by that restless and roving spirit 
of adventure which characterizes 
the man who is born a sailor. 

Among the most renowned 
voyagers of this period was Vin¬ 
cente Yanez Pinzon, one of three 
bold brothers, who by their means 
and influence assisted Columbus 
in overcoming the many obsta¬ 
cles which opposed him, and who 
became his companions on his 
first voyage. In December, 1499, 
Pinzon sailed from the port of 
Palos with a fleet of four cara¬ 
vels, or small vessels, taking 
with him two sons of his de¬ 
ceased brother and some of the 
seamen and pilots who had accom¬ 
panied Columbus. After sailing 
three hundred leagues to the 
south-west and passing the equinoctial line, the fleet was overtaken by a fearful 
tempest which drove the vessels at a furious rate and so far south that when 
the storm abated the Polar star was no longer to be seen. The dismay of the 
mariners, now deprived of their only guide, cannot be conceived. Their sole 
compass had been the stars, and having passed the equator, a new constellation, 


PINZON ATTACKED BY INDIANS. 





UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


139 


now known as the Southern Cross, had taken the place to them of the Polar 
star. Nevertheless, Pinzon continued on until at length he arrived at the coast 
of Brazil which he was resolutely bent upon exploring. At Cape San Augustine 
he went on shore, and with the usual formalities took possession of the country 
in the name of Spain. At the time of landing no natives were to be seen, 
though large footprints were noticed on the sand. The next day fires were 
observed lighted on the coast, and the Spaniards debarking were immediately 



encountered by a band of In¬ 
dians of the most fierce and 
warlike character. They were 
men of great stature, armed 
with immense bows and poison¬ 
ous arrows, while their feat¬ 
ures were ferocious, their looks 
haughty, and to the further 
astonishment of the Spaniards, they regarded the glittering toys and trinkets 
proffered them to gain their friendship with supreme contempt. 

Considering these natives to be too dangerous for him to attempt any 
exploration of the inland, Pinzon again set sail, and proceeded southwesterly 


















140 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


along the coast until he came to the mouth of a river too shallow to admit 
his ships. He sent several of his boats ashore, led by armed men, for the 
purpose of treating with the Indians whom he had observed on the right bank 
of the river. But when one of the bolder soldiers, armed with sword and buckler, 
attempted to approach them with signs of amity, one of the natives threw to 
him a piece of gold, and when he stooped to seize it, they rushed down with 
the intention of overpowering him. The Spaniard, immediately perceiving his 
danger, quickly arose and wielded his sword so dexterously that he kept his 
enemies at bay until some of his companions came to his assistance. The Indians, 
however, rallied and made such a vicious charge upon the soldiers that they 
killed ten of the Spaniards with darts and arrows, and pursued the entire party 
into the water, after which they bore off one of the boats. Several of the 
natives were killed, but this only served to increase their ferocity, so that the 
soldiers were glad to make their escape after such severe loss and to return to 
their ships unrefreshed. Turning, and sailing back again in a north-east direction 
forty leagues, Pinzon discovered the mouth of the Amazon river, and landing 
found the natives confiding, kindly and free-hearted, ready to share their posses¬ 
sions with their visitors, who however, after the usual custom of Spanish 
adventurers, repaid this hospitality by making thirty-six of the Indians captives. 
Thence the expedition continued its course northward until it came into 
the Gulf of Paria, whence, after taking in a cargo of Brazil-wood, it set sail 
for Hispaniola (Hayti). 

This expedition, beyond the discovery of the Amazon river, was of small 
importance, as the only thing that Pinzon took back to Spain with him which 
excited any curiosity was an opossum, which aroused the liveliest curiosity of 
the court of Spain. 

In 1500, Roderigo De Bastido, a Spanish gentleman, set out with two ships 
with John De La Casa, who had been a pilot under Columbus, and steering 
directly for the continent, discovered the land now called New Spain. Their 
object was to find the long sought for strait, but they were compelled to return 
disappointed like their predecessors. In the year following, Americus Vespucius, 
a Florentine who was in the service of the king of Portugal, set out upon a 
voyage and coasted South America for a distance of six hundred leagues. 
But his expedition resulted in no material benefits. 

THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH AND DISCOVERY OF THE PACIFIC. 

In the latter years of the fifteenth century and in the early years of the 
sixteenth, more than fifty voyages were undertaken to the American coast. 
While many of these were prepared with the hope and desire to reach India 
by a western passage, not a few were actuated by fantastic desires. Among the 
reputed wonders said to have been discovered in the New World was the 
fountain of youth, though Indian tradition had located it in the fabled Island 
of Bimini. This marvellous fountain was said to possess the power of renewing 
youth and restoring to vigor whoever dipped in its waters. It is reasonable to 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


141 


believe that not a few of the astonishing legends which were then told were 
employed by adventurous navigators to induce their often mutinous but credulous 
followers to engage in dangerous and difficult enterprises. It was in search 
of this fabled fountain that Juan Ponce De Leon discovered the coast of 
Florida, but though he endured almost incredible hardships by a penetration 
of the interior, he was unable to find the fountain that had lured him to the 
New World. In 1513, Vasco Nunez De Balboa, who had been made sub¬ 
governor of a colony at Santa Maria, in Darien, discovered the Pacific Ocean, 
the long sought for sea-route to India. His ecstasj^ was so great that he 
plunged into the sea, carrying aloft the standard of Spain, and had the pre¬ 
sumption to lay claim to the great ocean itself in the name of his ambitious 
king, a claim which was presently contested by other powers, and which led 
directly to piracy and opened a field for the cruel and adventurous. 

It was a passionate desire for gold, which seems to have actuated all the 
Spaniards in their expeditions to America, that led to the discovery of the 
South Sea. Balboa was a man not only of talents, but one of great courage 
and capacity, and was one of the most illustrious of the companions of Col¬ 
umbus. While living at Santa Maria, he made many journeys into the in¬ 
terior, and by his generous treatment of the natives gained the good will of 
the caciques (or Indian chiefs), whom he had conquered. By entertaining 
friendly relations with the Indians, he acquired considerable quantities of gold, 
and also a knowledge of the interior. The first intimation had of the great 
ocean which lay to the west, was given during a quarrel between some of the fol¬ 
lowers of Balboa, over some spoils which they had recently acquired, and 
about which they were unable to agree as to a fair division. Seeing them 
thus in dispute, a young cacique, throwing some of the gold out of the scales 
into which it had been placed for weighing, exclaimed, “Why do you quarrel 
for such trash. If you are so passionately fond of gold as for its sake to 
abandon your own country and disturb the tranquillity of ours, I will lead 
you to a region where the meanest utensils are formed of this metal, which 
seems so much the object of your desires.” The avarice of Balboa was thus 
strongly excited, and following the indication of the young cacique, after the 
greatest hardships he crossed the Isthmus of Darien, and from a western 
summit beheld the South Sea stretching away in boundless perspective. 

Having taken possession of the country in the- name of Spain, he exacted 
contributions in gold and provisions from the natives; after which he departed 
southward in search of a country where he was told the people possessed the 
greatest abundance of gold and used beasts of burden, which he was led to 
believe was the camel, which served to confirm his opinion that he was in 
the vicinity of India. The animal, however, proved to be the llama of South 
America, and Balboa was doomed to disappointment, for he was unable to find 
the golden country to which the cacique had referred, or the civilized people 
whom he set out to seek. 


142 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


EXECUTION OF BALBOA. 

The failure of Balboa to realize the golden dreams which had moved all 
Spaiu gave opportunity for his inveterate enemy, Davila, governor of Darien, 



BALBOA LAYING CLAIM TO THE PACIFIC. 


whose hatred was first inspired by the honors which Spain had conferred upon 
him, to wreak a vengeance which he had long contemplated. A short recon- 









UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


143 



cilement of this bitter jealousy followed the marriage of Balboa to Davila’s 
daughter; but the fresh honors bestowed by Spain upon the discoverer of the 
Pacific excited the governor’s hatred anew. Davila seized a pretext for charg¬ 
ing him with treason, and forced him to trial before a mock court, which ac¬ 
cording to prearrangement found him guilty, together with four of his friends. 
In pursuance of the sentence, Balboa and the others condemned with him were 
beheaded at Castillo del Oro, in Darien, in 1517. 

After the death of Balboa, the Spaniards constructed some small barks, 


BEHEADING OF BALBOA. 

and making a voyage in the Gulf of St. Michael, they discovered and took 
possession of several small islands, which they named the Pearl Islands, and 
from the natives of which they exacted a large tribute of pearls. These were 
the first fruits of European dominion in the Pacific. 

The failure of many voyagers to reach the Pacific through a strait finally 
led to an abandonment of that idea, and was followed by the opening of a 
regular intercourse across the Isthmus, for the convenience of which an entre¬ 
pot was established at Panama. This scheme, however, was not productive of 
any immediate material benefits. 






















144 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


A proposition was soon afterwards made to cut a canal across the Isthmus, 
which seems to have been received with decided favor, but work was not be¬ 
gun, and the idea was relinquished, to be revived several times in the next 
fifty years, but always with the same result. The entrepot established at 
Panama was also presently abandoned, and the vessels which were sent to make 
an expedition into the Pacific returned again to Spain, owing to the death of De 
Solis, who in discovering the Rio de la Plata was murdered by the natives. 

DISASTERS OVERTAKE LOYASA’S EXPEDITION. 

The next important expedition was undertaken by Magellan, a Portuguese 
who had served with great reputation under Albuquerque in India. He sailed 
under the patronage of Charles V., full particulars of which voyage will be 

given in a subse¬ 
quent chapter. The 
discoveries made by 
Magellan were claim¬ 
ed by Spain as its 
possession, an as¬ 
sumption of right 
which the other Eu¬ 
ropean powers were 
unwilling to concede. 
The old dispute of 
the boundary ar d par¬ 
tition-line was accord¬ 
ingly renewed, and 
referred to a convo¬ 
cation of learned ge¬ 
ographers and skilful 
pilots. The subject 
was fiercely debated, 
but both sides were 
alike so tenacious of 
the claims of their royal constituents that they were unable to reach any 
agreement. The respective governments were therefore left to establish what¬ 
ever right of possession that they found most convenient. Spain, therefore, 
immediately fitted out another expedition for the purpose of securing to the 
utmost the advantages of Magellan’s discoveries. The fleet consisted of four 
ships, of which De Loyasa, a Knight of Malta, was appointed commander. 
The squadron sailed in July 1525, with every promise of great success; but 
the imperfect state of nautical science in that day led to several disasters 
which brought the expedition to wreck and failure. 

The strait discovered by Magellan was a subject of uncertainty and dis¬ 
pute, and in an effort to reach it one of the vessels was wrecked near Cape 


















UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


145 


de las Virgines. Two of the other vessels were severely injured, and that on 
which de Loyasa sailed was separated from the rest and driven so far south 
that several of the seamen died of extreme cold. On the 26th of May follow¬ 
ing, the three vessels were again united and entered the South Sea, but were 
almost immediately dispersed in a storm. One of the vessels thereupon steered 
for New Spain, while the other two held to the north-west. Both Loyasa and 
Sebastian del Cano, the second in command, fell sick, and on the 3rd of August 
the former died, and the latter expired a few days afterwards. The command 
of the fleet now devolved upon Alonzo de Salazar,- who steered for the 
Ladrones, discovering the Island of St. Bartholomew on the way, which lies 
between Magellan’s. Strait and the Ladrones. But thirty-eight of the seamen, 
died here, and the whole crew were so enfeebled by the hardships to which 
they had been so long subjected, that they were forced to land on the island, 
and to kidnap eleven Indians to work the pumps. A month later, Salazar also 
succumbed to the fatigues which he had suffered in common with his seamen. 
The remainder of the expedition finally succeeded in reaching Spain, but in 
a dilapidated condition. 

In this same year, 1526, Papua, or the Island of New Guinea, was discov¬ 
ered by Don Meneses while attempting a passage from Malacca to the Moluccas, 
of which latter he had been appointed governor by the court of Portugal. It 
was also in this year that another Portuguese captain, Diego da Rocha, dis¬ 
covered the Pelew Islands. 

SAAVEDRA’S DISCOVERIES. 

In the year 1527, Hernando Cortez equipped three ships for the purpose 
of making a voyage to the Spice Islands in the Pacific, and the fleet set sail 
on All Saints Day (November 1), under the command of his relative, Alvaro 
de Saavedra. After the vessels had been three days at sea they separated, and 
the commander pursuing his course alone after leaving the Ladrones, discov¬ 
ered a cluster of islands to which he gave the name of Islands de los Rej^es, 
The natives whom he met on those islands were an extremely savage people, 
destitute of clothes save a piece of matting about the loins. They were, how¬ 
ever, robust and swarthy, with long hair and rough beards. They had large 
canoes, and being extremely brave and armed with lances of cane, Saavedra 
hastily sailed away from the islands in order to avoid an encounter which he 
felt must prove disastrous to his men. He succeeded in reaching the Moluc¬ 
cas without further adventure, but was attacked by the Portuguese there who 
claimed possession of the islands. But a re-enforcement came to his aid from 
the residue of Loyasa’s fleet,—who had now built a brigantine,—which enabled 
him to overcome his adversaries. After completing his cargo he again sailed 
for New Spain on the 3d of June, and shortly afterwards discovered another 
island to which, on account of his belief that gold there abounded, he gave the 
name of Island del Oro. Historians since, however, have generally believed this 
land to have been New Guinea, from the resemblance which the natives bore 
to the negroes of the Guinea coast. 

(10) 


146 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 



Saavedra made his return to Spain, bringing a cargo of valuable spices, 
and in the following year set sail again for the Moluccas. On this voyage he 
discovered a group of small islands in seven degrees north, which he named 
Los Pintados, in designation of the practice of the natives of tattooing and 
painting themselves. He found the people extremely fierce and warlike, and 
scarcely had he anchored when a large canoe filled with warriors boldly attacked 
his ships with showers of stones thrown from slings. Several other low-lying 
and inhabited islands were discovered to the north-east of Los Pintados, which 
Saavedra named Los Buenos Jardines (The Good Gardens). Here coming to 
anchor, the natives came flocking upon the shore waving a flag. Like demon- 


saavedra’s ship attacked by seingers. 

strations were made in return by the crew, which were followed by a party of 
warriors, accompanied by a female supposed to have been a sorceress, putting 
out in a canoe and going on board one of the vessels. After a short communi¬ 
cation by means of signs, the natives induced Saavedra to go on shore, where 
he met a cordial welcome. He found the females of the natives both beautiful 
and agreeable and. unlike others of the South Sea Islanders, they wore dresses 
of fine matting. The hospitality of this people was limitless, for besides sup¬ 
plying the crew with fowls, cocoanuts, and many vegetable productions, the 
men and women came in procession, and with tambourine and festal songs 
gave a generous welcome to their strange visitors. Saavedra died directly after 























UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


147 


leaving the Good Garden Islands, and the ship after vainly attempting to reach 
New Spain by a direct easterly course, again returned to the Moluccas. 

To Saavedra is ascribed the bold project of cutting a canal from sea to 
sea through the Isthmus of Darien. An attempt might have been made to 
have put his plans into execution had it not been for Acosta’s preposterous 
claim that the Pacific Ocean being higher than the Atlantic, the undertaking, 
if accomplished, must be followed by some awful calamity to the globe. 



FURTHER DISCOVERIES IN THE PACIFIC. 

In 1529 the Peninsula of California was discovered by Cortez, and its gulf 
and shores thoroughly explored. New settlements were now rapidly being made 
in both Mexico and Peru, which 


so engrossed the attention of the 
Spanish governor that it was 
not until the year 1542 that 
any fleet set out from that coun¬ 
try to make further explorations. 

In that year, the Viceroy of 
Mexico entrusted the command 
of two vessels which he had 
fitted out to his brother-in-law, 

Lopez Villalobos, and sent him 
upon a voyage of discovery in 
the Pacific. This expedition met 
with great success, being favored 
by fair winds and good fortune, 
which led first to the discovery 
of the Island of St. Thomas and 
a cluster of low islands near by 
which Villalobos named the 
Corals. In January, 1543, a 
hundred miles from the Coral 
Islands the fleet passed ten other 
islands, which from their fertile 
appearance they called The Gar¬ 
dens. The fleet coasted along 
Mindanao, and then set west¬ 
ward to the Island of Sarrangan, 
where it was determined to fix 
a settlement. To this intention 
the natives offered hostile objection, but they were easily subdued and possession 
of the island was taken in the name of the Emperor. It was here that the Span¬ 
iards raised their first crop of Indian corn in the Philippines, a name which Villa¬ 
lobos gave to these islands in honor of the prince-royal of Spain. After estab- 


VILLALOBOS LANDING ON THE PHILIPPINES. 









148 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


lishing a prosperous settlement upon the island Villalobos became engaged in 
petty intrigues among the native chiefs who favored different European leaders. 
This led to a charge of treason against him by the Spaniards, which he was 
unable to defend, and directly after his return to Europe, in a Portuguese ship, 
he died of sickness and chagrin. 

A SETTLEMENT ESTABLISHED IN THE ASHES OF A BURNED CAPITAL. 

Upon the accession of Philip the Second to the throne of Spain, he issued 
an order to the Viceroy of Mexico for the conquest of the Philippines, in which 
Portuguese influence had become dominant. The expedition was under the com¬ 
mand of Lopez Legaspi, whose assistant was Friar Urdaneta, who was a cele¬ 
brated navigator, and had been a companion of Loyasa. The expedition set sail 
in the latter part of 1564, and in January following discovered a small island 
which Legaspi named De los Barbudos. On the following morning they came 
in sight of a chain of islands which, because of the shoals that surrounded 
them, they called De los Plazeres. Two days later, another chain of islands 
was found, and which was called the The Sisters. These islands are supposed 
to be the Piscadores and the Arrescifes of modern charts. The fleet finally 
landed at the Ladrones, where it was decided to form a settlement; but the 
sealed orders of the King being opened here, they found that the decree ordered 
the establishment of a settlement in the Philippines. The natives were found 
to be kindly and hospitable, but were such consummate thieves that from this 
propensity the islands received their European designation. Their dwellings 
were handsomely formed and lofty, being raised some distance from the ground 
by stone pillars, and divided into square chambers, which were usually 
occupied by several families, living in a strictly communal state. The only 
creatures which they found among them were turtle doves, which the natives 
kept in cages and taught to speak, and a few chickens. The islanders had an 
extremely rude kind of religion, consisting, it would seem, of the worship of 
the bones of their ancestors. This would appear, however, to have been more 
of the nature of reverence than a system of worship, as they seemed to have 
no idea of a spiritual existence. In February the fleet anchored off the eastern 
shore of the island Tandaya, which is one of the Philippines. The natives 
received them with manifestations of friendship, and at the solicitation of 
Legaspi they entered into an alliance, which was attested by the chiefs and the 
commander drawing blood from their arms and breasts and mingling it with 
wine or water, and drinking it together as a pledge of mutual fidelity. This 
pledge, however solemnly made, was not faithfully kept; for the natives soon 
discovered the avaricious policy of the Europeans, and directly accused them of 
giving good words, but performing bad deeds. The fleet sailed from one 
island to another, but the inhabitants of each exhibited a similar want of con¬ 
fidence in the Spaniards, so that one station after another was abandoned, 
until at last Zebu was selected as the place for a settlement. The natives here 
were no more disposed to enter into friendly relations with the Spaniards than. 


PACK and burning of the; capital, of ze;bu 



(149) 

















































































UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


150 


on the other islands, so that, losing faith in peaceful methods, the Spaniards 
found a pretext for aggression, and the foundation of the first settlement of the 
Spaniards in the Philippines was made in the smouldering ashes of the sacked 
capital of Zebu. 

Hostilities having now begun, they were waged for a considerable time 
between the islanders and the invaders with great fierceness, until at length 
mutual interest dictated peace, and the settlement was completed. The news 

of the occupation was carried 
back to America by the Friar 
Urdaneta, who, leaving the Phil¬ 
ippines on the i st of January, 
reached Acapulco on the 3d of 
October—a passage which won 
for him great honor, as the voy¬ 
age between the Philippines and 
the mother country had hitherto 
baffled every navigator. This 
route afterwards became the 
regular one between the Phil¬ 
ippines and New Spain, the track 
being called Urdaneta’s passage. 
The fame of this monk became 
so great that among European 
navigators he was credited with 
having discovered the north¬ 
west passage, long before Sir 
Francis Drake had attempted 
that difficult enterprise. 

AN ISLAND WHENCE SOLOMON DERIVED 
HIS RICHES. 

Maritime science and dis¬ 
covery were now advancing 
surely, and individual sagacity 
and experience were anticipat¬ 
ing its progress. Juan Fer¬ 
nandes, a Spanish pilot, who had 
made frequent passages from Peru to the new settlements in Chili, now 

ventured far out upon the high sea, and in the progress of his voyage 

discovered the island which bears his name, but which is best known as 

Robinson Crusoe’s Island. In this inviting land he found everything that 
the seaman requires, wood, water, safe anchorage, and a great variety of pala¬ 
table vegetables. About this time also Cocos Island, and the Galapagos, 

(which afterwards became the haunts of the English Buccaneers), and the Solo- 












UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


151 


mon Islands, were discovered. These latter islands were first seen by Mendana, 
who left Callao, a port of Lima, in 1567, on a voyage of discovery in the 
South Seas. After sailing 1450 leagues he discovered the Isle of Jesus, the 
island of St. Isabella and the Star, and then came upon a group to which he 
gave the name Solomon Isles, in the belief that it might attract attention by 
indicating great wealth in gold and other precious commodities. He also gave 
it out that it was from these islands that Solomon had obtained his gold, san¬ 
dal-wood, and the rare materials employed in the erection of the temple. 

AMONG THE CANNIBALS. 

Mendana found the natives of these islands very savage in disposition, and 
practising cannibalism to an astonishing extent. They not only ate the 
enemies which they slew in battle, but upon occasion parents devoured their 
own children; and attacks of one tribe upon another were frequently made 
with no other object than to obtain bodies to satisfy their horrid appetites. 
The natives both young and old wore no clothing, and the only religion which 
they practised was the worship of reptiles and toads. When the Spaniards 
landed upon these shores they carried the cross and set it up as a sign of 
Spanish occupation; but during this ceremony they were savagely attacked by 
the natives, who fortunately were driven off after several were slain, though no 
serious damage was sustained by the invaders. After the Spaniards had re¬ 
mained a considerable time on the island a friendly intercourse was begun 
with the islanders, which was interrupted at length by the cruel violence of the 
Spaniards, who seized a native boy with the intention of carrying him back to 
Spain to exhibit as a sample of the new subjects which they had brought under 
Spanish rule. A chief accompanied by a large body of warriors, made a demand 
upon Mendana for the return of the boy, which being refused, he lay in wait 
until opportunity offered, when he set upon and murdered ten of the Spaniards 
whom he succeeded in surprising while they were on shore for a supply of 
water. This act aroused the vengeance of the Spaniards who, arming them¬ 
selves, went on shore and spread a dreadful havoc among the natives, many 
of whom they killed, burned half their houses, and destroyed all their pos¬ 
sessions. 

Upon Mendana’s return to Lima, he gave the most exaggerated accounts 
of the wealth and surprising fertility of this new Ophir, which led to several 
projects looking to a settlement of the islands; but none of them matured, 
and owing to the rapid extension of continental settlements remembrance of the 
Solomon group faded away. Thirty years afterwards Mendana undertook 
another voyage to the same islands, which after a search of many months he 
was unable to find ; nor were they discovered again until two centuries later, 
when M. Surville, in 1769, happened upon them. 

Juan Fernandes had laid claim to having seen the coast of New Zealand, 
and pretended to have visited a continent to the south, which all the navigators 
of that age believed to exist, but which none had been able to find. Fernan- 




152 UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


des’ claim that he had found a fertile portion of this unknown country, in¬ 
habited by white people, who were dressed in woven cloth and whose manners 
were kind and hospitable, was received with many doubts ; as was also the 
claim set up by a navigator named Gali to have discovered an island which 
he named Table Mountain, the external appearance of which led him to be¬ 
lieve it was one of the Sandwich group The more are these statements to be 



SPANIARDS SURPRISED AND MURDERED BY ISLANDERS. 


doubted from the fact that at the time that Drake undertook his famous voy¬ 
age, they were either unknown or completely forgotten; which is not likely 
when the importance of such a midway station for tbe Spanish fleet and ships 
passing between Mexico and the Philippines is considered. 

The foregoing is a brief but complete record and results of the important 
voyages undertaken to the South Seas preceding that of Drake in the year 
1577 - 


























CHAPTER XII. 


VOYAGES OF VASCO DA GAMA. 



ISCOVERY of a strange land by Columbus, 
in 1492, in pursuance of his ambition to 
reach India by a sea-route to the west, aroused 
to its highest pitch the spirit of adventure 
and exploration. While it was a general 
belief that the coast of Asia extended very 
far eastward of its real line, and that Colum¬ 
bus had really found an island off the main 
shore of India, if not the country itself, 
there were yet a few who held to the opinion 
that the most direct water route to India lay 
by sailing east. This belief was fortified by 
many traditions, such as the voyage of Hanno 
which, though generally regarded at that time 
as a fiction, was yet accepted as probable, if 
not true, by a few voyagers, of which number Vasco da Gama, a bold Portuguese 
navigator, was one. 

King John, one of the wisest of Portugal’s rulers, had manifested his faith 
in the theory that Africa was a peninsula the point of which might be doubled, 
and that an open sea-route direct to India would then be found. So strongly 
did he cherish this belief that he provided the means for several expeditions and 
despatched them to disprove or verify his opinion.. These enterprises had, 
unfortunately, resulted in no practical benefits, chiefly on account, as it was 
maintained, of the small size of the vessels that had been sent upon such expedi¬ 
tions, some of which had been wrecked, and others disabled by severe storms 
encountered in southern latitudes. But all the failures that had attended these 
attempts in no way discouraged King John, or in anywise disturbed the strength 
of his opinions; but observing that his theory ran counter to the general 
belief of his people, to avoid censure which might follow persistence in his 
efforts, he resolved to build three large vessels, not only great in size, as 
compared with ships of that time, but of extraordinary strength, intending 
secretly to dispatch them on their completion, under command of his bravest 
and most experienced navigators, in quest of the passage which he believed 
existed around the point of Africa. But his proud purpose was abruptly termi¬ 
nated by death, who strode into the halls of his palace and taking his hand 
led him away forever from the ambitions of this life to another land where 

(153) 
























154 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 



kings and paupers find no distinctions, and the spirit of adventure and discovery 
is without motive. 


THE CEREMONIALS OF COURTS. 


“Yes, the good King John is dead.” Within the stately towers, the halls 
of which for three hundred j^ears have echoed to the tread of kings, a sense¬ 
less lump of clay, a ghastly thing, alone recalls the Majesty of Portugal, 
while servile nobles in silence slip away to hail the rising sun. The King is 
dead, why should they stay? “Can flattery soothe the dull, cold ear of 
death ? ” So one by one they hurry off to pay their court where compliment 
is current coin and adulation is the price of place. 

In the street, where thick layered-straw from curb to curb deadens the 

sound of hoof and wheel, 
lest the passing dream of 
the dying King should be 
broken, women, whose thin 
faces and tattered, scanty 
raiment tell of pinching 
want, kneel, and with busy 
fingers tell their beads and 
murmur paters that the 
good King’s soul may rest 
in peace. To his enemies 
terrible, to his people he 
was kind, and the word of 
charity has its echo in the 
heart of the poor. “The 
King is dead;” men whis¬ 
per the sad news one to 
another, for all Lisbon is 
gathered in the streets 
around the palace, and the 
people watch while attend¬ 
ants drape door and win¬ 
dow with black, and the 
royal standard is displa3^ed 
with sable streamers, and 
trumpeters and heralds sally forth and call all men to mourn, for John was 
greatly beloved. But their sorrow was not unalloyed, for as the heralds 
following the buglers proclaim in the market places and squares the 
death of the sovereign, they also cry aloud, “ Long live his royal cousin 
and successor, King Emanuel.” And meu rejoice even in their tears, for 
Emanuel had long been known as “ The Fortunate,” and during the days 
that intervene between the death and funeral, the life and character of the 


THE OLD PALACE IN LISBON. 













UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


155 


good John are discussed far and wide. His virtues are compared with those 
of John the Great, his predecessor; his merits are equal to those of 
Prince Henry the Navigator, so much respected and so greatly feared; 
whose harsh voice and forbidding red face were known along the 
African coast from Morocco to Guinea; and the people wondered whether the 
explorations which had been the delight of John the Great and his son the 
Sailor Prince, would be continued and what would be done with the three 
great hulks whose unfinished frames had stood in the dock-yard so many 
years. What they were built for nobody knew, not even the courtiers, for the 
King had kept that to himself. But conjecture was lively, and it was com¬ 
monly supposed that some matter of more than usual moment had inspired 
their construction, although the work was some time before suspended, at the 
commencement of the King’s long illness. 

But time would tell. For the present it is enough to mourn the death 
of the good John and rejoice at the accession of the Prince Emanuel; so in 
silence Lisbon follows the great black car which bears the poor remains of 
the proud King from the magnificent Bemposta Palace to their last home in 
the Church of St. Vicente de Fora, just outside the Saracenic walls, where, 
in the little dark chapel, close by the high altar, King John is laid away to 
sleep with his fathers. 

THE HIDDEN CHEST DISCOVERED. 

Emanuel was a man of affairs, and lost no time in putting himself in 
possession of all information which might be of assistance in the administra¬ 
tion of the kingdom’s business, but for some time he could find nothing in the 

papers of the late King throwing light on the three hulks, nor on any of the 

numerous marine enterprises of John, or of Henry the Sailor. But one day, 
in a private room, a secret recess was discovered, and the spring of the hid¬ 
den door being touched, it answered to the finger, the door rolled back and 
disclosed a large chest. Here was a mystery; the great box of heavy oak 

was securely locked, and no key could be found. A smith came, and the chest 

was opened. It was filled with papers. The King kneeled, and began an ex¬ 
amination of the contents of the chest. One package after another, parch¬ 
ments, commissions, letters, reports, maps were drawn forth to the light, and 
the mystery was solved, for here were full accounts of all the naval enter¬ 
prises of John, and Henry the Navigator. The royal dinner was not eaten 
that day, and for many days subsequently the King was hardly seen by the 
court, for hour after hour went by as he and his secretaries examined the 
contents of the big box. 

LEGENDS OF OTHER VOYAGERS. 

And then and there for the first time he learned of a visit made to Portu¬ 
gal years before by a Caffre king; of the legend then currently believed of 
Prester John and the magnificence of his court; of the determination of King 
John to send out spies to the east; he learned of Gonzallo de Pavia and Joao 


156 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


Peres Covilhao (or Covilham) and the wonderful medal that was given each, in¬ 
scribed with the message of the Kin£ of Portugal engraved in every known 
language; of the jewels given them to sell for their expenses, of moneys paid 
for the support of their families while they were absent; of the rewards prom¬ 
ised them in case of success. He learned how they travelled, disguised as the 
servants of merchants, to Turkey, to Arabia, how they parted at Mecca, Gon- 
zallo going to India, and Pero along the African coast; how the former died, 
while on his return; how the latter was detained in Abyssinia; he learned 
how the King started an expedition in search of Covilham along the west coast 
of Africa, being convinced that if it sailed far enough it would circumnavigate 
the continent and arrive at Abyssinia; how Janifante, an African merchant, 

z/K xrs' 

four caravels; how 
he sailed along the 
coast until he came 
to a certain cape, the 
Cape of Storms, 
which he spent man}' 
weeks trying to wea¬ 
ther, but was pre¬ 
vented by the small 
size of his boats; 
how he returned, and 
informed the King 
that had he larger 
vessels he certainly 
would be able to pass 
the cape by keeping 
out at sea, and go 
to Abyssinia, and to 
India too; how John 
started to build 
larger ships, and how thus the mystery was solved, for according to the parch¬ 
ments found in the box they were intended for the Indian voyage. 



DA GAMA EXPLAINS HIS PURPOSE TO EMANUEL. 


AN ASTROLOGER CASTS THE KING’S HOROSCOPE. 

The imagination of the world was on fire with the discoveries of Columbus, 
and the King’s ambition was readily aroused by the narratives that had been 
recovered from the old box. But he was cautious and, not disposed to rush 
madly into any enterprise, he sent for a certain Jewish astrologer in whom he 
had great confidence. The Jew came, and as one chronicler tells us, “consulted 
his devils,” who announced to Emanuel that his ship should sail, would 
pass a great continent, and give to the Portuguese an empire comparable only 















UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


157 


to that which Columbus had already bestowed upon Spain. It was enough. 
Hammer and saw and adze were at once plied on the three big ships, haste 
was enjoined upon the builders, work was pushed day and night, and by 
the king’s command stores were gathered and preparations made for the expe¬ 
dition which was to carry the glory of Portugal farther than it had been 
borne even by Henry the Navigator. 

In the meantime, while work was progressing on the vessels, there came 
one day to Lisbon a travel-stained Oriental who would see the King and would 
tell his business to none but Emanuel. Repeatedly driven from the gate as an 
imposter, he as often returned, his pertinacity finally receiving its reward in a 
private audience with the sovereign, who soon after, in a state of great agitation, 
summoned his council, introduced the stranger and announced that the ragged, 
dusty wanderer was a messenger from Covilham, then a prisoner in Abyssinia. 
Although unable himself to return to his native country, Covilham had thus man¬ 
aged to communicate with his master, and in the letter sent by this strange 
messenger gave advice that ships should be sent down the west coast of Africa, 
confidently expressing the opinion that if they would sail far enough to the 
south they would be able to pass the cape and come up on the east side of 
the continent, whence it was but a short distance to India. 

PREPARATIONS FOR A DANGEROUS VOYAGE. 

The haste previously made in preparing the vessels which King John had 
begun was personified tardiness to the zeal with which their completion was 
now pushed. They were finished, were launched, and stores which in quantity 
and variety exceeded anything before known in Lisbon, were laid up for the 
cruise. Double sets of tackle, triple sets of sails, boards, pitch, oakum, all sorts 
of food, preserves, perfumes, all the medicines known to the pharmaceutist, and 
a doctor and a priest for each ship, were provided. All manner of merchandise 
was purchased and sent on board ; all kinds of coined money were placed in 
the treasury of the fleet, together with jewels, ornaments of gold and silver and 
of precious stones, with*swords and daggers and shields, with lances and chains 
and bracelets, with crowns, with gewgaws of every description, designed as 
presents to the people and potentates that might be visited, with spices of every 
kind,—nothing was forgotten. All Europe was searched for slaves who under- 
st6od eastern languages, and when one was discovered no price was too high 
to pay for his purchase, for who could tell how great might be the service he 
would render. The bravest and most trustworthy men, both soldiers and sailors, 
were selected for the expedition, and last but not least, eighteen murderers from 
the various prisons of Portugal were pardoned on condition that they would 
enlist in the fleet for “ dangerous duty,” this expression being understood to 
mean that when the Captain General wished to send a man on shore at a 
point where the temper of the natives was uncertain, and did not desire to risk 
the lives of his men, one of the murderers should undertake this duty; if he 
lived, so much the better for him; if he should be killed, so much the better 
for the expedition, for then he would save the life of a more useful man. 


158 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


APPOINTMENT OF VASCO DA GAMA. 

The fleet being ready, a strife arose as to the commander, for not a noble¬ 
man in the country but desired to share the honor of so vast an expedition. 
Scores of applications were received from rich and noble and valiant, but 
Emanuel hesitated, delayed the matter until the last moment, and “ after sev¬ 
eral days of fasting, prayer and deliberation,” selected almost by chance one 
Vasco da Gama, a gentleman of the court, who had proved his valor in the 
Moorish wars, and his naval skill in more than one crusade along the coast of 
Morocco. So Vasco took the command, taking with him his brother Paulo, and 
a great friend of the two as the commander of the third ship. He named his 
vessels San Miguel, San Gabriel and San Raphael, or in English, St. Michael, 
St. Gabriel and St. Raphael, in honor of the Archangels, and fearing lest pro¬ 
visions might run short for so long a voyage, at his request a fourth ship was 
added to the squadron, in which were carried large quantities of stores that 
could not be loaded into the other vessels. 

DEPARTURE OF THE SQUADRON. 

The powers of an ambassador were conferred on da Gama; he was given 
letters-patent to annex all lands which he might discover; a special embassy 
brought from the Pope authority for Portugal to conquer all countries in Africa 
and India not already appropriated by Spain, and preparations for. the expedi¬ 
tion were thus happily completed. The momentous day finally arrived. The 
king’s standard was blessed in the cathedral; the fleet weighed anchor and 
dropped down the river to Belem where it waited a favorable wind to put to 
sea, and during the three days of detention a roll was made of the crew and 
of their relatives, and the list laid up in the archives of the kingdom that they 
might never be forgotten. Largesses were to be paid the wives and other de¬ 
pendents of the heroes engaged in this memorable service; absolution was given 
to all who should perish during the undertaking, and on March 25, 1497, the 
desired breeze sprang up, the anchors were weighed, the sails were hoisted, the 
king’s banner thrown to the breeze, and amid the tears of the spectators and 
with the blessings of the Patriarch the fleet stood out to sea to add new em¬ 
pires to the Portuguese crown. 

FIRST PASSAGE OF THE CAPE. 

The expedition stood down the coast of Africa for many weary weeks, and 
to the sailors the continent seemed to have no end. From time to time land¬ 
ings were made along the shore at such points as seemed to afford shelter 
from the almost constant storms, but the harbors were poor, the inhabitants 
were hostile, and from one place after another the Portuguese retired, prefer¬ 
ring to brave the dangers of the main than to contest a worthless territory 
with the hardy blacks. The region of the Cape of Storms which Emanuel, 
before the departure of the expedition, had already named the Cape of Good 
Hope, was reached, but so surely as a tack was made toward the east, so 
surely did forbidding breakers and precipices rise up under the bow and sev- 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


159 



eral times with difficulty were the ships rescued from destruction. Unprece¬ 
dented storms prevailed and for two months the ships beat in vain in an effort 
to round the inhospitable cape. The crew became despondent, and even Vasco’s 
brother seemed to lose heart. A proposition was made to change the tack, and 
after doing so, to the inexpressible gratification of the Captain General it was 
discovered that the cape had been weathered and that the land now appeared 
to the west instead of to the east of the storm-beaten fleet. But the sailors 
finding themselves in new and hitherto unexplored regions, began to be afraid, 
and some of the petty officers uniting with them, projected a mutiny which 
Gama thwarted only by a daring stratagem. Sending for all the pilots to come 
on board the flag-ship with their maps, charts and instruments, he put the 


first passage of the cape. 

men in irons and sent them below; collecting all the nautical apparatus, inclu¬ 
ding every map and chart he threw overboard these instruments of their craft, 
then announced that as the pilots were to be kept in irons and there were 
neither maps nor apparatus by means of which they could return, they must 
go on. 

MALADIES AND FEARS. 

The voyage continued, but so long a confinement at sea told severely on 
the health and strength of the crews. From two hundred and forty men the 
expedition was reduced to one hundred and forty, the rest having died. The 
ships began to leak, and discovering a large river, probably the Zambesi, Vasco 





160 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


ordered the fleet to put in to rest and recruit. Hardly were the crews landed 
on the shore when a terrible and hitherto unknown disease broke out among 
them. Their flesh decayed upon their bones, their lips fell away, their teeth 
dropped out, the muscular portion of the body became so soft that a finger 
could be pushed into the arm or leg, “ which was most pitiful for to see; ” 
and no wonder, for this was the first appearance of the scurvy, which the hap¬ 
less Portuguese attributed to a certain kind of fruit brought them by the natives, 
and not for a long time did they discover that it was due to the salt diet and 
lack of vegetable food consequent upon their long voyage. Their condition 
would have been even worse, but for the capture of several hammer-head sharks, 
the flesh of which, though somewhat unpalatable, the crews greedily devoured, 
because it was fresh meat. 

TROUBLE WITH THE SULTAN OF ZANZIBAR. 

Coasting along the eastern shore of Africa for a long time, Vasco saw 
only the blacks who rarely came to the ships, but at last a vessel at anchor 
was discerned in a little bay. Being pursued by one of the ship’s boats, the 
crew of the smack made their escape, but the merchant who owned and com¬ 
manded the little coaster was taken, and being treated in a friendly manner, 
guided them to Mozambique (or Zanzibar), where the weary voyagers cast their 
anchor, hoping for a long rest. At first they were kindly received by the Sul¬ 
tan, who hoped by trade with them to realize large gains, but on ascertaining 
that they desired to go further, he inquired of what kind of merchandise they 
were in search. They showed him pepper, cloves, cinnamon and ginger, and 
he at once knew by the sight of these spices that India was their destination. 
Dissembling his indignation at their refusal to remain with him, the Sultan 
formed a plot to seize the ships, but his scheme was discovered by the friendly 
Moor, and da Gama having, partly by persuasion, partly by force, induced two 
pilots to come on board, the ships left the port of Mozambique, taking the 
pilots with them. At this point, however, they lost one of their men, a con¬ 
demned murderer who had been sent on shore as a messenger. Many years 
later, when a Portuguese ship touched at the port of Mozambique, the grave 
of this man was discovered. He had lived among the people of that region 
for a number of years after being left there by Gama’s ships, having in the 
meantime become one of the king’s ministers and a man of much renown. 

RECEPTION BY AN AFRICAN KING. 

Escaping the dangers of Mozambique, and still following a north-east 
course, the expedition came to Melinda, where Gama and his companions were 
received with great honor. Their favorable reception was due in no small 
part to the king’s soothsayer. In most African, and in Oriental, countries the 
office of soothsayer or astrologer to the court is deemed one of great impor¬ 
tance. In every emergency the astrologer is consulted, and his advice being 
in most cases consonant with the wishes of the sovereign, is strictly followed. 
Knowing the importance of the soothsayer, the captured Moorish merchant 



CAPTURING HAMMER-HEAD SHARKS. 

(161) 




































































































1(32 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


took time by the forelock, and when sent on shore with a message to the 
King, made it his especial business to bribe the prophet, who thereupon 
announced that the strangers were come with pacific intentions, and that the 
King of Melinda could do no better than receive them as friends. After so 
auspicious a beginning in this new country, they found themselves so well 
treated that they remained for three months waiting for the monsoon, in order 
with it to cross the Indian Ocean. The King’s favors were extended in a 
practical way: Whenever the sailors, or purchasing agents of the fleet went 

on shore, a messenger of the King attended them through the streets that 

they might not be ill-treated by the people, to the market places in order that 
they should not be cheated, and through the country lest they should lose 
their way. Appreciating his kindness, Gama gave him a reception on board 
the ships just before sailing, and presented to him a royal robe, a gold 
-mounted sword and lance, and a throne of wood inlaid with plates of bronze and 
silver gilt. While greatly pleased with their liberality, he did not fail to 
impress upon their minds that he was a very great king, and that their 
generosity was but in proportion to his mightiness. He told them of the extent 
of his dominions, of the number of slaves and wives he possessed, of the vast 
fields in which his yams were raised, of the numbers of his oxen and buf¬ 
faloes, at d of the boys he had in training to become soldiers. In return for 
this boastful assurance, the Portuguese exercised their imaginations and 

impressed the African king with the prowess and dominions of their own 

sovereign, declaring that his kingdom reached from the regions of eternal 
summer to the land of perpetual snow; that he had sent out a fleet of two 
hundred ships, and the four boats in which they came formed the least 
division; that they had lost their company in a storm and had wandered up 
and down the sea for several years, seeking where they might find the 
remainder of the fleet. Impressed as he might have been by these stories, the 
King was more affected by the silver service which was exhibited on the ship’s 
table the day of his reception, which the Portuguese were careful to explain 
was a thing of every-day use, and of no moment whatever. 

The vessels took in supplies of rice, butter, of sheep salted whole like 
pork, of fowls and vegetables, of sugar in powder and enclosed in sacks; of 
oranges, and last but not least, of cocoanuts, or ghost-nuts, as they called them, 
“ cocoa ” being a Portuguese word signifying “ ghost,” and the nut was so 
called from the fanciful resemblance which the three dark spots on the tip 
bear to the eyes and mouth of a human face. Leaving one of the banished 
murderers, who was at once made a gentleman of the king’s household and 
subsequently became Premier, the vessels lifted their anchors and stood out 
to sea, and the last Vasco and his crew saw of Melinda was a procession of 
the King and nobles going up from the beach to the town, the trained servants 
bearing the sword and throne in solemn state before the African potentate. 


CHAPTER XIII. 


A REMARKABLE PROPHECY. 

Calecut an old legend or prophecy was cur¬ 
rent that when the fulness of time should 
come to pass, India would be conquered and 
possessed by strangers who would arrive in 
ships from the west and fight with the 
thunders of Heaven. A hundred years be¬ 
fore Vasco sailed from Portugal an immense 
number of Chinese, driven from their native 
country by causes at the present day un¬ 
known, had sailed along the Indian coast 
and settled in its bays and harbors. By some 
this was supposed to be the prophesied inva¬ 
sion, but others more familiar with the terms 
of the prophecy knew that not thus could 
fulfilled, for these strangers came from the 
east and not from the west, nor did they fight with the thunders of Heaven, 
or any other weapon, but arrived as peaceable settlers, seeking shelter and a 
home. When, therefore, twenty days after Melinda had faded from view on the 
western horizon the Portuguese fleet came in sight of Calecut (a large city on 
the west coast of India and now the seat of the Madras presidency), the pro¬ 
phecy was at once recalled by king and people, and preparations were hastily 
made to repel the expected hostile invasion. But, to the astonishment of the 
King of Calecut, the vessels came to anchor in the offing, and neither approached 
the shore nor sent any messenger to the land. A day passed, two days, three 
days, and still no message was despatched from the strangers. Who were they, 
and what did they want ? The fishermen who passed in their boats at some 
distance from the strange crafts said the men were white, but otherwise they 
could give no information. His curiosity getting the better of his determination 
to keep the strangers at a distance, the King finally despatched a messenger to 
the flag-ship to ask who the strangers were and what they wanted in his port. 
This was the opportunity for which da Gama had waited, for the Moor explained 
to him that in dealing with the Oriental he must appear indifferent, and in 
nowise to venture on shore or put himself in the power of an eastern potentate 
without security and hostages for his personal safety. So da Gama had waited 
with what patience he might, knowing that sooner or later a messenger would 
come from the shore to ask his business. 

(163) 























































































































UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


1G5 


A GREAT STORY-TELLER. 

The Moorish merchant, who acted as the purchasing agent of the fleet, 
was sent on shore to explain the presence of the vessels in the harbor of Cale- 
cut. When asked who were the strangers he at once waxed eloquent, accord¬ 
ing to directions given him before leaving the ship. Under his flexible tongue 
the dominions of the Portuguese sovereign stretched from the north to the 
south and extended from the rising to the setting sun. Da Gama and his 
company had left Portugal years upon years before with a monstrous fleet of 
not less than a thousand sail; had lost their company in a storm, and had 
been going up and down the world for two years seeking the lost vessels; 
that they had come to Calecut hoping to find their friends there, and as they 
were disappointed they would immediately go away. But the Moor’s eloquence 
did not stop here. He told of the visit to Melinda and of the munificence with 
which da Gama had treated the King; he told of the might and power of the 
Captain General, of the wonderful engines of war which they carried in the 
ships, of the presents they had made at Melinda, of the purchases, and liber¬ 
ality with which they had paid for everything they bought. Now that they 
were here, continued the Moorish merchant, they would, if permitted, buy drugs 
and spices and then go away. While the King was considering this proposi¬ 
tion, permission was given the natives to go out in their boats and sell spices 
to the fleet, and soon all Calecut was ringing with the praises of munificence 
shown by the strangers. They bought fish and vegetables, and not in a single 
instance contested the price, always paying what was asked, no matter how 
extravagant the demand. Nay, even more than this, for on one occasion a boat 
came off from shore with a load of wood for sale. The vesssels needed no wood 
^md as the craft was going away da Gama ordered a small coin to be given to 
each one of the boatmen. The pilots, the Moor and the boatmeil were alike 
astonished, and asked the reason of this strange conduct, when da Gama be¬ 
nevolently explained that these were poor men who came to sell their wood, 
and that the coin given to each was a reward for his trouble in bringing it 
out and taking it back again, although the ships needed it not. 

TRAFFIC WITH THE PEOPLE OF CALECUT, 

Like wildfire the stories of the strangers spread throughout Calecut, and 
the people and merchants clamored for permission to sell to those who seemed 
to know nothing of the value of money. The cupidity of the King was ex¬ 
cited, his interest was roused by the story of the golden sword, the gilded 
lance and the great throne which won the heart of the King of Melinda. He 
invited da Gama to go on shore. The Captain General asked for hostages, and 
although none came, such plausible messages were sent that da Gama concluded 
to land. 

Along the coast of India the Moors had for many 3^ears been the ruling 
commercial power. Ages before this, in their little boats with sharp prows and 
great triangular sails, they had crossed the Indian Ocean and established them- 


166 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


selves in the principal harbors of India as merchants, brokers and factors. 
Few in numbers, they soon acquired a considerable influence, and their com¬ 
mercial establishments, like those of the great East India Company in later 
times, were often fortified and guarded by their own hired troops. For this 
service they had enlisted large numbers of the natives of the country, the 
Pariahs, or outcasts, who were so accursed that when they went .along a road 
they were required to shout at every seven steps lest they should by chance 
meet a member of the higher classes, who would be defiled by the touch of 
them. Their condition was hopeless, so they readily entered the service of the 
Moors or Arabs as soldiers, and speedily found their circumstances greatly im¬ 
proved, for not only was their caste raised by their employment, but their pay, 
lodging and food were far better than they could have hoped for had they re¬ 
mained Pariahs. By the employment of these outcasts the Moors had acquired 
considerable military, as well as commercial, power on the coast of India, and 
so great was their prestige that to be “ as fortunate as an Arab ” was a proverb 
in Calecut. Although their influence was so great, the Moors were intensely 
jealous of any interference with their monopoly, and learning that the strangers 
were merchants they at once bribed the King’s ministers to refuse the Portu¬ 
guese permission to trade. 

OFFERINGS OF PRESENTS TO THE KING. 

Among the first visitors from the shore was a man of tall stature and 
grizzled beard who, to the astonishment of the sailors, greeted them in very 
good Spanish. Being invited on board, he stated that he had formerly lived 
in Spain, but was now employed in trading along the Indian Ocean and on 
the coast of Africa. This man, who had really come as a spy for the purpose 
of ascertaining the strength of the squadron, was won over by da Gama, and 
subsequently proved a most valuable friend to the Portuguese. Entering their 
service while still ostensibly engaged in the interest of the King, he on several 
occasions brought them intelligence which proved of the greatest value. When 
da Gama made up his mind to go ashore, he invited this man to attend him, 
and before leaving the ship, caused all the presents intended for the King to 
be displayed on tables placed on the deck. Under pretence of furbishing and 
cleaning them, they were kept in sight for several days, and the Castilian 
Moor speedily bore to the city news of the magnificent gifts which da Gama 
had prepared for the King of Calecut. The. day of the visit, the King sent to 
the fleet his signature on a palm leaf, as a mark of friendship; a procession 
was formed, and the Captain General with a number of his attendants, having 
their weapons concealed under their garments, got in the boats and pulled for 
the shore. They landed, and a procession was again formed, the sailors bear¬ 
ing in trays on their heads the presents intended for the King, which were 
“ a piece of very fine scarlet cloth and a piece of crimson velvet, a piece of 
yellow satin, a chair covered with brocade of large nap, studded with silver- 
gilt nails ; a cushion of crimson satin, with tassels of gold thread, and another 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


167 


cushion of red satin for the feet; a hand basin chased and gilded, with a ewer 
of- the same kind, a very handsome thing; and a large, very splendid gilt 
mirror; fifty scarlet caps, with buttons and tassels of crimson twisted silk and 
gold thread on the top of the caps; and fifty sheaths of knives of Flanders, 
with ivory handles, which were made in Lisbon, and the sheaths gilded. All 
these things were wrapped in napkins, and all in very good order.” 

DANGEROUS JEALOUSY OF THE MOORISH MERCHANTS. 

For some days before the landing of da Gama trading had been briskly 
conducted by the men of the fleet, to the great disgust of the Moors, who 
watched with jealous eyes the progress of their rivals. But the commander, in 
his effort to conciliate the people of Calecut, and thus make a favorable im¬ 
pression, carried his policy a little too far, and thus excited the suspicions of 
the cunning and watchful Arabs who, seeing the Portuguese paying the highest 
market prices for cloves that were all stick, for cinnamon whose weight was 
doubled by clay, and for pepper that was half sand, came to the reasonable 
conclusion that the strangers were not merchants, but soldiers who, under a 
pretence of trade, were laying plans and making preparations to occupy the 
country. To the King they went with their suspicions, but he would hear 
nothing of them; and equally in vain did they attempt to prevent the proposed 
audience with da Gama. The King suspected that they were anxious to con¬ 
tinue and perpetuate the monopoly which they had acquired in the trade of 
Calecut and refused to allow any change in his plans. 

IN THE PALACE OF THE KING. 

With much ceremony, therefore, da Gama and his companions were escorted 
to the palace where, after passing through many courts and passages, they were 
finally ushered into a large inner chamber, the door was closed and they were 
in the presence of the Zamorin, or King of Calecut. He was a tall dark man, 
having for clothing only a waist-clout of white linen; but what he lacked in 
raiment he made up in jewels, for every part of his body glittered with gold 
and precious stones. A large belt in which were set diamonds and rubies of 
priceless value encircled his waist, a diamond-spangled collar was around his 
neck, two diamonds each “ the bigness- of a thumb ” hung from his ears, he 
had bracelets on his arms “ as big as the irons they put on a runaway sailor,” 
and even his waist-clout was embroidered with pearls. He held his court in 
great state; on each side stood men who carried the royal standard, sword 
and shield, a lad near the King held a golden cup into which, at fitting seasons, 
royalty expectorated; a priest of the highest dignity stood by with the areca 
loaf (made of the betel-nut, pepper plant and limes) which the King chewed; 
an official of much self-importance was in readiness with a small tankard and 
a golden goblet in case his majesty should chance to thirst, while a soldier of 
the royal guard held over the king’s head as an emblem of authority a 
golden umbrella. 


168 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


Before this magnificent potentate da Gama sounded the praises of his own 
sovereign, the King of Portugal, rehearsed the stories already told of the fabu¬ 
lous extent of his dominions, which by this time comprised all the earth except 
India, told about the gigantic fleet with which he had sailed and from which 
he had been separated, and after the most extravagant tales of what his master 
would do in case the King of Calecut should offend him, wound up his high- 
flown oration and asked for leave to trade and to establish a factory. 



DA GAMA IS MADE A PRISONER. 

The Zamorin, who seemed disposed to be friendly, partly on account of the 
prophecy, partly because of the presents, took the matter under advisement, in¬ 
timating that it should receive favor¬ 
able consideration. In the mean¬ 
time, however, the Arab merchants 
had not been idle. Among the 
officials of the court was one whose 
ears were readily open to the chink 
of coin, and him the Arabs ap- 


DA GAMA BEFORE THE KING OF CALECUT. 


proached with a bribe. Enlisting himself in their service, he readily under¬ 
took the task of getting the Captain General out of the way. As soon, 
therefore, as the Zamorin had left the city for his palace in the suburbs, the 
false minister made da Gama a prisoner and placed him in close confinement, 












































UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


169 


his fate being shared also by the twelve men who had accompanied him during 
his audience with the King. For some time the incarceration continued, since 
da Gama, anxious to keep up the fiction of being a merchant, had previously 
directed that only in the last extremity should any resort to arms be made. The 
captive Portuguese were subjected to various indignities, this being a part of 
the plan projected by the Moorish conspirators, as they thus hoped to drive 
the strangers to violence, then by throwing on them the blame of any blood¬ 
shed that might ensue, to secure their expulsion from the country. With 
admirable art the Portuguese played their part, enquiring with apparent inno¬ 
cence why peaceable merchants were thus treated. No answer was given them, 
and finally, after some days of detention, the minister, fearing the consequences 
should his treachery become known to the King, allowed them to depart with 
an admonition to leave the harbor at once. To ensure their doing so, a body 
of armed men was collected on the shore and a number of boats prepared to 
attack the fleet. Not caring to risk a conflict at that time, da Gama ordered 
the sails to be set and the vessels moved out of a harbor where at first the 
prospects of the expedition had seemed very bright for friendly, and profitable 
intercourse. 

SURPRISING SIGHTS IN THE FAR EAST. 

The fleet now sailed away, down the coast of India, putting in here and 
there as fancy prompted, and everywhere the crew noting with keenly inter¬ 
ested eyes whatever they saw that was strange or new. Sailors all, it was not 
remarkable that they should fill the pages of their journals with accounts of the 
queer vessels and men which they saw. With a nautical interest in the subject, 
they tell of the native craft which have only one mast and but three ropes; 
which are guided by a large rudder of thin planks; which are partly of wood 
and partly of canvas; which are made water-tight with bitumen; which have no 
decks, but are provided with a roof of cane matting; which have leather 
buckets instead of pumps; which have but one sail and carry their water in 
large tanks instead of barrels; whose anchors are of wood, w r ith stones to make 
them sink; which are as large as the ships of the Portuguese, and much bet¬ 
ter adapted for a tropical climate, since they do not become leaky. With ever 
active interest, the Portuguese watched the Indian catamarans, here seen for 
the first time by Europeans, examined the long narrow hulls, criticised the 
outlying beam which prevents an upset, even in the heaviest sea, and admired 
the seamanship of the natives and the ease with which, a native standing on 
the beam, they flew through the wildest billows. Many other marvels they saw 
which, to them strange, have to us long since become familiar through sketches 
and books of travel. 

AN EXCITING RACE AFTER NATIVE SWIMMERS. 

On their arrival in the vicinity of Goa, a plot was contrived by the Sultan 
of that place for the capture of the entire fleet, he having learned of its coming 
through the Moors, who in their light vessels everywhere went before the 
Portuguese squadron and stirred up evil feeling against the strangers. Know- 


170 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


ing nothing of Goa or its people, it was with delight that the lookout at the 
bow heard himself hailed from a boat beneath in good Spanish with the words 
“ God bless the ships and the Christian crews and all who sail with them.” 
Looking down, he beheld a man of venerable aspect and long white beard, who 
responded to his questions with plausible words and announced himself as a 
messenger from the Sultan of Goa. Invited on board, he was questioned by 
da Gama as to his purpose in coming, but soon excited suspicion by his hesi¬ 
tation and contradictory replies. Just then word was sent to da Gama that the 
crew of one of the boats which had been cruising in search of a better anchor¬ 
age had discovered behind the islands of the bay an immense number of fustas, 
or native boats, filled with men who to all intents seemed to be soldiers. This 
bit of intelligence intensified the suspicions of the Captain General, who at once 
ordered the visitor to be seized and put in irons and the crew of his boat to be 
detained. The former order was quickly carried out, but the latter not so easily, 
for the native rowers finding themselves about to be apprehended, at once 
deserted their boat and took to the water. 

“ Out with the boats,” shouted the officer of the deck, “ Don’t let one of 
them get away.” A dozen boats were instantly lowered to the water and filled 
with lusty sailors, roaring with glee at the unexpected fun. Away went the 
natives, as much at home in the water as on the land, their brown bodies shin¬ 
ing through the blue waves. Catching them was no easy matter. They swam 
almost as fast as the boats could be rowed, and when the chase became hot, 
dived and changed their course, coming up many yards away in an entirely 
different direction. 

The water splashed, the sailors shouted, the men on the ships, crowding 
the deck and rigging, howled with delight at the novel spectacle. Now a boat 
would come up to a native, a sailor would reach out his hand, when flash, the 
boat would pass over the place where the swimmer had been, and a moment 
later he would reappear in the rear, swimming away for dear life. After him 
again, the boat would slowly turn, but not before the native had made a long 
gap between his heels and the pursuing prow. Slowly it would be lessened. 
At last overtaken a sailor often seized the fugitive’s legs only to be himself 
pulled into the water by his reluctant captive. But human lungs have limits 
of endurance, so one by one the divers were tired out and hauled on board 
more dead than alive, after which the captives were counted but only eleven 
found, whereas there were twelve in the boat. The sea was scanned but the ' 
missing native was nowhere to be seen; no black head was seen to make its 
way toward shore. The crew thought he must have been drowned, and the 
boats were ordered drawn up, when a sudden shout arose from the crew of one 
passing beneath the stern of the San Miguel. 

u Here he is,” and everybody rushed to the sides and stern, and two sailors 
in their anxiety to see lost their balance and fell overboard, but were fortunately 
fished out with boathooks, while the missing native was ignominiously hauled 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


171 


out from under the ship, where with only his nose above water he had been 
holding on to the rudder. 

TORTURE OF PRISONERS. 

The natives were sent below, and da Gama questioned the old man who had 
come on board. Closely pressed, he admitted nothing, but tortured by drops of 
hot fat being let fall on his body, he finally confessed that he was a Jew of 
Grenada; that he had come on board with treacherous intent, to observe the 
number and arms of the crew in order that the boats in waiting behind the 
islands might that night surprise and capture the vessels. The truth having 
thus, by means too cruel to be mentioned without reprobation, been extracted 
from the Grenadian Jew, immediate preparations were made to attack the hostile 
fustas. Boats were manned and loaded with hardy Portuguese soldiers and 
sailors, small carronades were placed in the bows, the men were armed and 
provided with cross-bows and plenty of arrows, and the few firelocks there were, 
these not yet having come into general use, were placed in trusty hands. 

But more than on all the rest of their arms the Portuguese relied on 
diabolical devices of their own invention, “ powder pots ” they called them, 
small vessels, in size and shape closely resembling the cans in which, at the 
present day, meats and vegetables are preserved. Made of strong earthenware, 
the cover was securely fitted on, the pot filled with powder, and a fuse left to 
hang outside. The “ powder pot ” was really an incipient bomb, and the fuse 
being lighted, the messenger of destruction was thrown by hand among the 
enemy. While its explosion did little mischief compared with the terrible weapon 
of later times, the noise, the injury done by flying fragments, were sufficient to 
spread consternation among an enemy to whom its employment was a novelty. 
But this was not the only variety of the powder pot. Another kind was intended 
not so much to hurt as to frighten the foe. It consisted of a vessel similar to 
the powder pot, save that in the cover an orifice of an inch in diameter was 
left. Through this passed the fuse, and the contents of the vessel instead of 
dry powder, was a mixture of dampened powder and finely pounded sulphur, 
the fumes of which would readily induce an enemy to beat a retreat. 

A MASSACRE OF THE NATIVES. 

The shades of night were heavy on the bay as the ten boats pulled aw r ay 
from the fleet, following a light boat in which were eight soldiers and the Grena¬ 
dian Jew, heavily ironed and guarded by a man on each side. A screen 
behind the blazing torch kept from the view of the enemy the soldiers in the 
boat and those in the little squadron following its lead. Boldly the liglit-boat 
rounded the point of the island behind which the fustas of the natives were 
lying in fancied security. “ Who comes there ? ” shouted a native in the Indian 
tongue. Putting a dagger to the throat of the Jew, da Gama bid him answer, 
and whispered that instant death would be the penalty of treachery. “ ’Tis I,” 
hallooed the Jew in reply, “ returned with news from the Christian ships.” 
Recognizing his voice, the natives allowed the boat to approach, not having the 


172 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 



slightest suspicion of treachery, and in a moment the Portuguese were among 
them. 

A scene of wild terror and confusion ensued. The heavy Portuguese 
yawls ran down the flimsy boats of the natives, while the discharges of the 
cannon and firearms, the wounds made by the arrows from the cross-bows, 
the sharp biting of the falchions, and crushing blows of the heavy maces and 


massacre; of the; captives. 

broad-swords, added to the dismay of the natives. The powder pots exploded 
on board of the Indian vessels, and threw their crews into the greatest panic, 
while even more dreadful were the fumes of the sulphur pots and the hissing of 
the damp gunpowder. The onset of the Portuguese was so sudden, it left the 
Indians time neither to flee nor to prepare for fight. Endeavoring to put 













UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


173 


their boats about, they ran each other down; crowded together in a helpless 
mass of boats and men, they fell an easy prey to the merciless Portuguese. 
Plundreds were drowned, hundreds more were butchered like so many sheep, 
hundreds were captured. In one brief hour the invaders were masters of the 
situation and those of the enemy not dead were huddled together, a band of 
hopeless captives, awaiting the slaughter of which they were presently the victims. 

RETURN OF THE EXPEDITION. 

Fearing a savage retribution if he remained longer on the coast, da Gama set 
sail to return to Portugal. The voyage was completed without especial incident, 
and from the Tower of Belem, a coast village then, but now a suburb of Lisbon, 
the King watched the entrance of the squadron which had accomplished a water 
journey to India and results which were destined to make Portugal a leading 
power in Europe for many years. 

Enthusiastic was the reception of the voyagers; every one was a hero; 
every one had some story of thrilling adventure or hair-breadth escape; every 
one vied with his fellows in magnifying the wealth of the country which they 
had reached by a hitherto unknown route. It was evident that the importance 
of the discovery could not be overrated, and King Emanuel began at once 
preparing to avail himself of da Gama’s discoveries. The return of the latter 
was in September 1499, and in less than six months a fleet of thirteen vessels 
was on its way to India, to trade and establish factories. For some cause, 
which has never been made clear, the command of this imposing squadron 
was given to Alvarez Cabral, instead of to da Gama, the latter remaining 
quietly on his estates while Cabral sailed on the voyage of conquest. The 
first result of the new expedition was the discovery of Brazil, which was an 
accident, Cabral having sailed too far to the west in the hope of doubling the 
Cape of Good Hope without encountering its storms. Having claimed this 
new country in the name of his master, he proceeded on his way, arrived at 
Calecut, loaded his ships with spices and precious woods, founded a factory, 
left one ship and a number of men to await his return, and sailed for home. 

DESTRUCTION OF ENTERPRISES FOUNDED IN THE EAST. 

The rejoicings with which his arrival in Lisbon was greeted had scarcely 
subsided when a strange sail was seen in the offing, and the vessel coming 
into port, proved to be the one which Cabral had left in Calecut. Its speedy 
return was soon explained. No sooner had the Portuguese fleet departed, than 
the natives rose, massacred the few men whom Cabral had left, burned the fac¬ 
tory, and in fear that the fate of the sailors on shore might be their own, the 
crew of the ship had hastily put to sea, and flying before the monsoon, had 
crossed the Indian Ocean almost in sight of Cabral’s fleet, left Melinda three 
days after their departure, and in their wake had beaten up the coast of 
Africa and thus arrived at Lisbon. 


CHAPTER XIV. 


DA GAMA COMMANDS ANOTHER EXPEDITION. 

a short sojourn in Lisbon da Gama set all 
Portugal in a fever of excitement by his 
impassionate demands and golden predictions. 
His appeals met with such hearty response 
that there was no delay. The cry went up 
that a fleet must at once be sent to punish 
the massacre of Cabral’s men, and Vasco da 
Gama must be its commander. Again the 
sound of busy hammers came from the dock¬ 
yards ; again the sail-makers and the rope- 
makers, and the carpenters and the black¬ 
smiths were working day and night. Again 
the kingdom was ransacked for supplies, and 
prices rose and went higher and higher, for 
merchants must profit while opportunity 
stretches forth the hand of plenty. 

From foreign ports came sailors of every land, for tbe fame of the new 
expedition under the famous captain spread far and wide, and men were eager 
to share the glory of a new voyage. Hundreds were enlisted, desperadoes all, 
for none but desperadoes cared to venture their lives in a service which promised 
no end of hardships and in which fighting would be the only diversion. A 
hardy crew of practiced cut-throats filled each of the ten ships fitted out for 
the voyage, and as da Gama said, in any one vessel could be heard all the 
languages of the continent. The statement was true. There were Portuguese, 
and Spaniards, and Italians, a few Frenchmen from Marseilles and Lyons, a few 
Dutchmen from Rotterdam and Bremen, a few skillful and daring Norway sailors, 
descendants of the Vikings, who had spread terror over every coast in Europe 
six hundred years before ; a few Englishmen, fugitives from their native country; 
a few Irishmen from Galway, who had come to Spain in the ships which con¬ 
stantly trade on the Irish coast and from Spain had found their way to Lisbon; 
a few Scotch fishermen from the Frith of Forth ; a few Greeks, the sons, it 
may be, of the men who cruised with Ulysses, of the sailors who won the battle 
of Salamis. It was the gathering of the west against the east. The dogs of 
war were to be let loose on the unhappy natives of a land only too peaceful. 

The utmost haste was made, but the greatest expedition was too slow to 
satisfy the impatient King and still more impatient da Gama. Preparations 

( 174 ) 








UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


175 


were pushed to the utmost, but so extensive was the armament that two years 
elapsed before the fleet was ready to sail, and not until the spring of 1502 did 
the Captain General go on board, give the final orders for departure, and the 
fleet, the finest and most perfectly equipped that up to that time had ever left 
the port of Lisbon, sailed for the east, the commander breathing out dire threats 
of what he intended to do if the saints spared him to see the city of Calecut. 

THE BLOOD THIRSTINESS OF DA GAMA. 

Safely the fleet doubled the terrible cape and began its voyage up the 
African coast, and then, disguise cast aside, all the tiger*in the character of the 
man appeared. No longer hampered by the weakness of his force, the despotic 
master of a powerful fleet and au army of men, he cast to the winds all con¬ 
siderations of justice and mercy. Native African rulers who had received him 
kindly were admonished that tribute was expected, and if not paid at once, its 
collection would be enforced by the edge of the sword. Gratitude was forgotten. 
He plundered those who on his former voyage had sent him on his way with 
presents and benedictions. 

Forcible resistance gave no security, for what native arms could withstand 
the Portuguese artillery ? A tender of friendship was no guarantee of safety, for 
the Portuguese plundered alike foe and friend; in abject submission there lay 
no hope, for the merciless strangers considered themselves lucky iu being able 
to rob without personal danger. Nor were their depredations limited by their 
necessities and those of the fleet; they plundered at will, and burned what they 
could not carry away. Thus sacking, slaying, destroying, making good the 
worst predictions uttered against him by the Moors, da Gama and his murder¬ 
ous men made their way up the coast of Africa and finally from Melinda set 
sail to cross the Indian Ocean and wreak terrible vengeance on Calecut. 

DEVOTION OF MOHAMMEDANS. 

For ages Mecca has, to the Mohammedans, been the most holy spot on 
earth. Every follower of the prophet must, at least once in his life, kiss the 
sacred Kaaba stone and recite his prayers in the mosque consecrated by the 
foot of the great Arab leader whose followers, even in the present day, equal 
in number those of the Nazarene. To Mecca every true believer of the Moslem 
faith turns his face five times a day when reciting the praj^ers imposed upon 
him by his faith; to Mecca his face is turned when he is laid in his narrow 
home. 

Only at one season is the pilgrimage made, and during that time all Arabia 
is in commotion. Every road swarms with pilgrims; singly, here and there a 
lonely traveller, tattered and dusty, with scrip and staff, making his way over 
parching sands under a blazing tropical sun; in groups, little bands of men, 
well armed, for every road is infested with robbers, and keeping a sharp look¬ 
out at every suspicious turn; in great caravans, whose numbers preclude the 
probability of bandit interference or whose armament would render hostile de¬ 
monstration futile. 


176 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


Nor is the interest confined to Arabia. Dhows bring pilgrims to Jeddah 
from the coast of Africa just across the Red Sea, vessels of larger burden ply 
up and down the shores, each laden with its human freight, all journeying in 
the same direction. From the African coast, from the shores of the Mediter¬ 
ranean, from Persia, from India, from Ceylon, from the isles of the sea, from 
Siam, from the limits of far away China, come ships bearing the Moslem faith¬ 
ful to their holy shrine. 

Filled with enthusiasm on the journey to Mecca, the pilgrims are still more 
jubilant on their return. Having made their devotions in the temple and kissed 
the Kaaba, its holy stone; having stood in long lines in the holiest mosque in 
the world and prayed where Mohammed bent his knee; having gazed on the 
grave of Ishmael and drunk of the water from the well of Hagar; having heard 
a sermon from the top of Ararat, and proceeded thence to Medina and prayed 
at the tomb of the prophet; having done all that was required by their law and 
prophet they felt their salvation was assured; thenceforth they might wear the 
prophet’s green, and in Paradise share his bliss. 

JOY IS TURNED TO MOURNING. 

It was in the month of September, 1502, that the good ship Khadija, so 
named from the wife of the Prophet, was returning from Mecca to Calecut with 
eight hundred pilgrims; men, women and children, a select company of wealthy 
and noble people. They had made the pilgrimage with great eclat , scattering 
their money with lavish hand wherever they went, for during the time of his 
pilgrimage, if ever, the Mohammedan is liberal. Their journey had not been 
long, for the staunch vessel, flying before the south-west monsoon, had crossed 
the Indian Ocean in a remarkably short time, and already the eyes of the pil¬ 
grims turning to the east caught sight of the hills of their native land. Here 
and there familiar headlands were pointed out by the pilot. O11 board there 
was mirth and gladness, and the tinkle of the vina and the tap of the drum 
was heard as parties on the deck amused themselves with song and dance. The 
dangers of the sea were almost past, the pilgrims were nearly home, why should 
they not be merry? So the music and the dancing proceeded, while the grave, 
bearded Arab merchants relaxed their rigid features and smiled, and the women, 
veiled to the eyes, looked on at amusements they were not allowed to share. 

There was a sudden stir; the pilot shaded his eyes, and looking intently 
to the east, sent a messenger for the Captain. The Captain came, and assumed 
a serious expression, and so did many others when several suspicious sails ap¬ 
peared on the horizon just off the coast. “They are probably pirates,” the 
Captain announced. There was a hurried concealment of money and valuables, 
gay clothing was quickly laid aside, for costly raiment was signally out of 
place with pirate ships in sight. Quickly the hostile fleet came up with the 
big pilgrim ship, but while the strange vessels were yet far away, the ships 
and their standards were recognized by captain and pilot, who told those stand¬ 
ing about that these were Portuguese vessels, and anxious men and frightened 




12 


MOHAMMEDANS ATTACKING DA GAMA 


(177) 















































178 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


women watched the manoeuvres of the fleet as it took up a position round the 
Khadija, and children with big, round, innocent eyes peered through the port 
holes at the unusual sight and at the white men in bright armor and with 
glittering weapons as they hurried to and fro on the decks of the Portuguese 
ships. 

PIRACY AND MURDER. 

Boats were lowered and approached the Khadija. There was a moment of 
awful suspense, for all the men in the boats were seen to be armed, and no one 
knew what fate might have in store for the pilgrims. When within hailing 



DA GAMA SETTING FIRE TO THE PIEGRIM SHIP. 


distance the Portuguese, through an interpreter, proclaimed who they were, and 
demanded money and valuables of the crew and passengers of the Mohammedan 
ship. “ Oh, they want money then, do they ? They are pirates, these Christ¬ 
ians.” The countenances of the grave Arabs assumed a sneer. “ These Portu¬ 
guese have shown themselves in their true light; pretending to be merchants, 
they are pirates. Well, if they want money, let them have it.” It was indeed 
impossible to refuse a demand thus made, when supported by so overwhelm¬ 
ing a force; so one contributed jewels, another gold, one gave silver, another 
ornaments, until the sum of twelve thousand crusadoes ($8,500) was made up, and 
placed in a box, and let down into the nearest boat as ransom, the Arabs hop- 













UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


179 


ing that with this the Portuguese pirates would be content. Not so, how¬ 
ever ; the valuables were taken to the flag-ship, and directly a boat approached 
the Mohammedan ship with a demand for more. The case was then more 
serious, and men looked grave when considering the possibility of being robbed 
of all they had. Still the money had to be given The value of twelve thous¬ 
and crusadoes additional was thus raised and sent, but still the pirates refused 
the pilgrims permission to depart, but despatched an order that men must be ad¬ 
mitted on board to search the vessel. “ What thieves these Christians are ; they 
are worse than the Bedouins of the desert.” Nothing, however, remained but 
submission, so the Portuguese crews came on board, plundered everybody, and 
seized everything of value that they could find. “ Now surely we may go,” 
thought the Arabs; “ Since they have taken all, our lives can do them no 
good, and even with the loss of all our property we are almost home.” But 
not thus are they to escape. Their horror was increased by the sight of a boat 
leaving the Admiral’s ship laden with combustibles, the crew bearing lighted 
torches. “What does this mean? Would they burn us alive?” The men 
came on board, adjusted piles of straw and shavings about the vessel, and made 
ready to apply the torch, for it was the Admiral’s order that the pilgrims should 
be burned alive. 

The unhappy Arabs with a valor born of despair, seized what few arms 
they had, considering it better to die fighting than to be burned like rabbits in 
their burrow, and with the resolution of desperation they fought with such 
energy that the Portuguese sailors were unable to stand against them, and being 
driven to their boats some fell into the sea and were drowned, while many were 
only saved by being pulled out of the water by their companions. Re-enforce¬ 
ments were then sent from the fleet but they fared no better. The three hun¬ 
dred desperate men on board the Khadija proved themselves more than a match 
for all the boarding Portuguese. Those having swords, lances or bucklers stood first 
along the sides, and aided by others with improvised weapons, with planks tom 
from the deck, with bits of iron made fast to pieces of ropes and used as clubs, 
they withstood and drove off the boarding parties. One attack after another 
was thus repelled. Finally, one of the Portuguese ships was laid along side 
the Khadija, but the desperate pilgrims became assailants in their turn and not 
only boarded but captured the Portuguese vessel, drove its sailors overboard 
into the sea, and seized the weapons of the vanquished. Not only did the 
Arabs possess themselves of the swords, the cross-bows, the lances and targets 
found on the ship, but they even dragged the carronades on board the Khadija 
though they proved useless for. the want of powder to load them. But with 
cross-bows and arrows, lances and javelins, they kept up a desperate battle and 
foiled every attempt of the Portuguese to retake or to board the vessel. A 
large number were killed and wounded in the attack, until at length seeing the 
futility of further effort to recover his vessel uninjured da Gama ordered his 
ships to stand off and use their artillery on the Khadija. His entire fleet thus 



(iSo) 


DESTRUCTION OR THE RHADIJA AND AEL ON BOARD, 










































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


181 


engaged all day long in a one-sided battle with this single and defenceless 
ship. The heroism of the Mohammedans was of no avail against cannon balls. 
One by one the brave band was stricken down by shots and splinters, but not 
until the last of the brave three hundred were dead or disabled did the Portu¬ 
guese venture on the now shattered Khadija. When there was no longer any 
man to oppose them they crowded on board, massacred the wounded, enclosed 
the women and children in the cabins, locked and nailed the doors, set the ves¬ 
sel on fire, and as the flames rolled up and the stifled screams of his victims 
came across the waves, da Gama stood and laughed at the awful agony of the 
hapless human beings consuming before his eyes. 

HORRIBLE BUTCHERIES. 

This was but the beginning of the massacres which earned for da Gama 
the name of Butcher. When he arrived at Calecut he bombarded the city, 
giving no previous notice of his intentions, so that men, women and children 
alike shared a common fate. Having captured the city he laid it in ashes, not 
leaving a house standing. In the harbor were many ships, both Arab and 
native, and apparently simply from the love of blood the Admiral, taking the 
men of the crews, cut off their ears, hands and lips, strung them on cords 
around the necks of the miserable victims, tied their feet together, and lest 
they should untie the strings with their teeth ordered them to be beaten in 
the face until not a tooth was left. The order being obeyed in the most brutal 
manner, the vessels were set on fire and the hapless men of the crews were 
buried in the flames. An ambassador, a Brahmin of the highest caste, was sent 
by the king to sue for peace. Da Gama ordered his lips and nose to be cut 
off, the ears of a dog to be sewn on his head instead of his own, and thus 
mutilated and insulted the unhappy man was sent on shore to tell how the 
Christians punished their enemies. Numberless indignities were practised on 
the helpless captives and atrocities were committed that disgraced the name of 
humanity. Nor were the massacres confined to places where the Portuguese 
had suffered real or imaginary wrongs. Like a tiger da Gama revelled in blood 
and killed when there was neither necessity nor excuse. On the whole west 
coast of India the Portuguese commander left a red trail and his progress 
might be traced by the ashes of burned cities. For a year he continued his 
butchery, then sailed away for Portugal congratulating himself that by the mas¬ 
sacre of inoffensive and unarmed natives he had made an example. 

MISERABLE END OF THE BARBAROUS VOYAGERS. 

It is a curious historical fact that among the early explorers there were 
few, particularly of the Spanish and Portuguese, who did not come to some 
bad end. They were men of generally irregular lives and violent temper, 
whose bloody deaths were in most cases a fitting conclusion to careers of 
unbridled passion. Even the noble Columbus was sent back from America to 
Spain in irons, where he soon afterwards died of a broken heart; Ovanda 
died under circumstances that strongly pointed to poison; Bobadilla was 


182 UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 

Magellan perished in ««£>»« n' ““n 2 

^“aM >V'l“ ,tSS i lia own naan; nibea di.i 1.1 .he 
was imprisoned and died of exposure and privation; Alvarado was kille 
battle pfzarro died by the assassin’s dagger; Almagro was garroted. Da 
Gama’ W a no exception On his return to Portugal from his bloody journey 
2 “,”!. ha ™ disgraced, for e... .1,. barbarilp of .ha. »“ 

countenance the butchery of miserable savages m the wholesa P 



bombardment of calecut. 

tised by the Portuguese admiral, espe¬ 
cially when such murderous deeds | —|| 

served to excite the hostility of a people . rr” II 

Wr°was U Xn bac/to Portugal. A man of slaughter, his fame was great, 






























UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


183 



not on account of his achievements so much as because the labors and genius 
of the greatest poet Portugal ever produced were employed in describing his 
first expedition. It was Camoens who made da Gama the great popular figure 
of Portuguese history, by installing him in the Lusiad as the personification 
of all that was great and good. The remains of the Admiral lie side by side 
with those of Camoens, beneath a marble shrine in one of the noblest churches 
of Lisbon, but in India the memory of the Portuguese conqueror has not 


SPIRITS OF DA GAMA’S VICTIMS PURSUING HIS GHOST. 

faded away; along the west coast of the Indian Peninsula, the words “Demon” 
and “Portuguese” are synonymous, and the Indian mother quiets her fretful 
child with “Look thee, little one, be still, else devil Gama cometh.” 

DA GAMA’S GHOST. 

Nor is the memory of his bloody deeds forgotten, for at the present day, 
three hundred years after da Gama’s soul went to confront his victims before 
that court which admits no appeal, the belated fisherman on the India shore 
sometimes sees a strange spectacle: The phantom of a tall man with long, 
black hair and beard, with dark, stern face, clad in old-time armor, flies along 















184 UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 

the beach, while a vast crowd of natives, whose mutilated faces, handless arms 
and ghastly wounds, tell of the awful torture in which their souls departed, 
chase the flying fugitive. Men, women and children are in the crowd of 
phantoms, which is made up of Indians and Moors, of Mohammedans and Pa¬ 
gans. The ghost of the Portuguese is overtaken, and cries for vengeance 
sound along the shore mingled with da Gama’s prayers for the mercy he never 
showed, and the unwilling looker-on sees the Indian spectres place their cap¬ 
tive in a ship of strange form. Again the flames arise as the sails of the 
ghostly ship are set and it stands out to sea. It is joined by others; the 
Portuguese fleet is reproduced in lines of fire, and the phantom Hindoos dance 
on the sand as the flaming vessels bear the tortured spirits of “ Butcher 
Gama” and his crew away to scenes of yet deeper agony, and the fisher¬ 
man knows that the great Admiral is still undergoing an awful punishment 
for his crimes. 








ivvV ^ 1 $88 * . PMS 

































































11 wp 






*: • 












.,>*•« . 


















1 II *' “ • »'*V**^ 4 * rV* J*: • »•»*»* - i rj Jt Jn . ic ...m /\; i m i 9 ... . aZSa. , . • > .. . » - • ........ 33 ..imm . . { i m; 


















KUilt • : -S 


















































'.:y Cl 


















is 




ft. .; ?■ • »»;•< 















) Ifrj»! /! I! *1 |j!« j ttBtft 




r. • i r i ifi ■ t. t $ tr * is. - . * . » • .«•» l t I r 


*»• ..i 









'Ji . .... • - • |r . . .... i > 








9m. - . <i ilifi - i» * » a im» .rt» inr»a >«j.i i>*»r • t»j i jw.*’ 






























> <L-*»* . » . - 




»*••»•» - • • • 


... ... *»••». 3 ■ » • • ■ 

T 7 TTTT*• * T• ’ iil.-i ■ Mv»•.< 

















> . . Iti.j .u I'DI VO 






• • • •», >!.*• «* 
r»« j ii -i nsi r%S3 

• > «•»< ' ii/Xifil 


. i ... , . . w -- i %■ *4 *i •• •• ri|«9«« . . . . • • . 4i« v n« ••• »»•#•» •>«.! y • (*«• « • . |. . .■ •• ........ ..... • ••• • ' > • ... i 

• • . ’» * * tvtauif > in* ' , ‘**J**' 1 j’ ' ^ » • • > ' • • ; ■ * f •■*•*/»»• * r » M ’ • ; • * •' ' * • * • »J" JJ ' J 1 " 
















































COPYRIGHT 1891, 

Da Gama’s merciless destruc 






























































CHAPTER XV. 

DISCOVERY AND CONQUEST OF MEXICO. 



A GAMA’S return from the India Orient with tales of fabulous 
wealth, supporting the reports made by Marco Polo, 
naturally, in an age when Portugal and Spain were 
rival powers in an extension of their sovereignty over 
unexplored regions of the earth, quickened public energies 
and caused the spirit of discovery to blaze up with ten¬ 
fold greater intensity than was even excited by the 
adventures of Columbus. In her efforts to colonize 
Cuba, St. Domingo and the islands of the Caribbean, Spain 
sent ships, supplies, and men to several points which appeared 
favorable for settlements, and over those established in Hispaniola 
(St. Domingo) Ovando, one of Columbus’ bravest comrades, was 
appointed governor. But Ovando became inimical to the interests 
of Columbus, and at the latter’s instigation he was recalled, and Diego, the 
eldest son of Columbus, was appointed in his stead. Upon assuming this 
dignity Diego took the title of Viceroy and affected such magnificence as is 
usually reserved for royalty. But he was not content with an august aud 
splendid rule on a small island, and scarcely had he gained the gubernatorial 
office when he became ambitious to extend his power over new dominions in 
the name of Spain. In pursuance of this desire for greater glory Diego 
organized an expedition of 300 men against Cuba, with the view of annexing 
that large and most beautiful island, and gave the command to an adventurous 
and daring character named Diego de Velasquez. Such an enterprise of course 
attracted the attention of all the bold spirits that had settled in Hispaniola, and 
among those who sought enlistment under Velasquez was a youthful scapegrace 
named Hernando Cortez. This remarkable character was a native of the little 
town of Medellin, in Spain, where he was born to a captain in the Spanish 
navy in the year 1485. With a disposition remarkable for recklessness, we are 
not surprised that he should be expelled from school, and that he gave his 
father no end of trouble by his wild escapades, in which guilty and shameless 
amours were most frequent. Unable to restrain Hernando at home, his father 
concluded to send him to St. Domingo, but on the evening of his intended 
departure the reckless boy, then but seventeen years of age, while making an 
effort to secretly gain the balcony of his lady love’s room, lost his hold upon 
the railing and fell so heavily to the ground below that his life was for a 
while despaired of. Recovering at length, however, he sailed away to the new 
world and found congenial companionship with the bold rovers who had pre¬ 
ceded him. 

( 185 ) 


186 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


JOINS AN EXPEDITION AGAINST CUBA. 

Hernando spent seven years with his uncle, Ovando, governor of St. 
Domingo, occupying some minor official positions, but in this time performing 
no special service beyond that of messenger to natives living in the interior of 
the island, whose hostility and treachery were such that no one but a daring 
character could be engaged to treat with them. 

On account of his bravery and the experience acquired by his intercourse 
with the natives of St. Domingo, Hernando was accepted as a valuable acquisi¬ 
tion to the expedition sent out by Diego Columbus in 1511, under Velasquez, 
to accomplish the subjugation of Cuba. This most fertile island on the globe 
was discovered by Columbus during his first voyage (Oct. 28, 1492) and in 
honor of Prince John, son of Ferdinand and Isabella, was named Juana, but at 
the death of the King the name was changed to Fernandina. Some years later 
it was designated, in honor of Spain’s patron saint, Santiago, and subsequently 
it was called after the holy virgin, Ave Maria. These several names became 
so confusing that it was finally decided to continue the designation by which 
it was known to the natives at the time of its discovery, viz., Cuba. At this 
time the island was divided into nine principalities, each preserving its inde¬ 
pendence, and ruled by as many caciques or chiefs. The people are described 
as living in an easy, voluptuous and contented manner, and at peace among 
themselves because they appeared to be indifferent to conditions. They were 
semi-religious; that is, they appeared to entertain a belief in the existence of a 
supreme being and in the immortality of the soul, but they practised no cere¬ 
monies, and employed no rites, nor were their beliefs well defined. 

BURNING A CACIQUE AT THE STAKE. 

In the several conflicts between the marines who accompanied Columbus 
and the Cubans the latter had exhibited little valor, being, as they were, such 
voluptuaries that they accepted any harsh conditions rather than engage their 
foes, whose severities they had more than once felt. The invasion of Velasquez 
met with so little opposition that the march was not once interrupted, the 
natives fleeing at the sight of the white invaders, leaving their burning villages 
to be plundered at will. Only one cacique offered the slightest resistance, and 
for his appeal to his people to repel the white robbers he was taken by Velasquez 
and given the alternative of embracing the Christian religion or being burned 
alive. When told, in reply to his enquiry, that many Spaniards were in 
heaven he accepted the latter, for said he, “ I would rather be annihilated by fire 
than be compelled to associate even in heaven with such fiends as are the Spaniards.” 
With characteristic malignity and mercilessness Velasquez bound the unhappy chief 
to a stake, and heaping fagots about him ordered fire to be applied to the pile, and 
watched with satisfaction the slow consumption, and heard with laugh of pleasure 
the piercing screams of his helpless victim. This horror brought the natives to 
make an acknowledgment of perpetual submission to Spain, and by this bloody 
title Cuba has continued to remain a possession of that country to this day. 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


187 



Having mastered the island, on July 25, 1515, Velasquez established a 
settlement on the south coast, at the mouth of the river Mayabeque, and in 
honor of Columbus called the place San Cristobel de la Habana. But the 
location proving unhealthy the town was removed to the mouth of the Rio 
Almenderes; but this site being no better than the first, the settlement was 
again transferred in 1519 to its present location, at the entrance of one of the 


BURNING OF THE CUBAN CACIQUE. 

finest harbors in the world, and to the 
new town was given another name. 
Havana, by which it has ever since 
been known. At nearly the same time that a settlement was formed at San 
Cristobel, another was established on the south-east coast and called Santiago, 
which Velasquez made his capital, while still another was made on the south 
central coast and named Trinidad, both of which flourished and developed into 
important ports of commerce, and which they have continued to be to this day. 











































188 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


CORTEZ IS THE HERO OF A LOVE ADVENTURE. 

The acquisition of Cuba was directly followed by the appointment of 
Velasquez as governor, and in recognition of his valuable services Cortez was 
chosen his secretary. But the intimate relations between Velasquez and his 
secretary were not to remain long undisturbed, for an enmity was presently 
engendered by the infamous conduct of Cortez towards one of four sisters, 
daughters of a rich gentleman from Castile, who had come over with hundreds 
of other wealthy families to settle in the fair land of Cuba. Velasquez resented 
the insult, being deeply attached to one of the young ladies, and to avenge 
himself Cortez entered into a conspiracy to secure the removal of his chief. 
He was detected, however, and being arrested was tried and sentenced to death, 
but he contrived to break his fetters, and forcing his way through a window 
of the prison sought refuge in a church where, according to the customs of the 
time, he was secure, for the church sanctuary must not be violated. After 
remaining for some days in this place of refuge he attempted to escape in the 
night, but was again arrested and taken on ship-board to be sent to St. Domingo, 
with a cord, as the badge of a traitor, about his neck. But for a second time 
he managed to divest himself of his manacles, and slipping out upon the deck 
plunged into the sea and swam ashore and regained the sanctuary of the church. 
Being badly disabled and exhausted, to end his distress he offered to marry the 
girl that he had wronged, and his proposal was accepted. This act reinstated 
him in the good opinion and confidence of Velasquez,, who soon after selected 
him to command an expedition, the results of which served to establish his 
fame for all ages. 

A year before the incident just related, Velasquez had despatched an 
expedition of three small vessels, and something more than ioo men, under the 
command of Francisco Hernandez, to make an exploration among the adjacent 
islands with the view of attaching them to the Spanish Crown. This expedition 
sailed as far west as Yucatan, which they discovered, and by trading with the 
natives the Spaniards obtained a large number of brightly burnished hatchets 
and other articles which they thought were gold. But they were so avaricious 
that what they were unable to secure by barter, they sought to possess by force, 
which precipitated a conflict, in which a greater part of the Spaniards were 
killed. Only about thirty of the original number returned, and several of these 
were so severely wounded that they died, among these latter being Hernandez, 
the commander. 

The fate of the expedition was, however, forgotten in the wild excitement 
produced by reports that the land from which the remnant of the voyagers 
returned so abounded with gold that the natives used it as the commonest of 
metals. And even after an assay of the burnished hatchets had disclosed the 
fact that they were copper instead of gold, the excitement did not seem to abate, 
for the belief continued that somewhere in the interior of the country thus dis¬ 
covered there were mines and mountains of the precious mineral from which the 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


189 


natives procured it in great abundance. Acting under this belief Velasquez fitted 
out another expedition of four ships and 240 men, which under the command 
of Juan de Grijalva, left the port of Santiago in April, 1518. After a sail of 
eight days they reached the shore of Central America, but found the natives 
so hostile that it was not deemed prudent to make a landing. Continuing 
along the coast, therefore, the expedition anchored before a Mexican town, which 
has since been named St. Juan de Uloa, where they were hospitably received, 
and a profitable trade was conducted with the people. A considerable quantity 
of gold was here secured in exchange for glass beads, and information was also 
obtained of a wondrously rich kingdom and of a magnificent capital in the 
interior, where a mighty ruler known as Montezuma lived in unexampled 
splendor. 

CORTEZ IS APPOINTED COMMANDER OF THE MEXICAN EXPEDITION. 

When the expedition under Grijalva returned with its report and with many 
specimens of gold in verification of the stories concerning wealth of the Mexican 
Kingdom, excitement was unbounded, not only in Cuba, but also in Spain, 
where the news was transmitted by Velasquez with request for assistance in 
organizing another expedition for the subjugation of the new country. The 
help asked for was so speedily rendered that in a surprisingly short time a fleet 
of vessels was provided, and Hernando Cortez was appointed to the command, 
but a full complement of men yet remained to be obtained. Before preparations 
were fully completed, with the fear that Velasquez might deprive him of the 
honors bestowed, Cortez raised his anchors and sailed away from Santiago for 
Trinidad to procure additional troops. Here, by his impassioned appeals to the 
people, exciting both their religious zeal and their cupidity, he succeeded in 
enlisting several hundred cross-bowmen, and besides muskets and other weapons 
he obtained several small cannons. Having been joined by nearly 200 men in 
Trinidad, Cortez collected a large quantity of military supplies, provided padded 
coats for some and armor for others of his soldiers, and set them through a 
thorough course of drill. Besides inspiring his followers with promises of large 
rewards in the land of gold, Cortez intensified their ardor by declaring that one of 
his prime purposes in undertaking the conquest was to supplaut the idol-worship of 
the Mexicans with the cross of Christianity, and to emphasize this intent in the 
minds of his men, he planted before his tent a banner of black velvet embroidered 
with gold, on which was a gilt sign of the cross surrounded with an emblazoned 
device, “Let us follow the cross, for under this sign we shall conquer.” 

Just before his departure from Trinidad, Cortez perceived two ships with 
valuable cargoes putting into the harbor, which he captured under the pretence 
that the Lord had made him an instrument for spreading the gospel, and that 
as a servant of God he had need for the vessels, which with their cargoes 
should be devoted to the Lord’s service. Singular enough his . eloquence was 
such that he persuaded the crews of both vessels, including their owners, to 
join his expedition, after which he sailed to Havana, and there completed his 


190 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 



preparations for the enterprise which he had so auspiciously undertaken. He 
found his expedition now to consist of eleven vessels, most of which, however, 
were only open barks, with one of ioo, and three of seventy tons, but into 
these he embarked no seamen, 553 soldiers, and something over 200 Indian 
men and women who acted as servants. On account of the smallness of his 
vessels Cortez took with him only sixteen horses, but these valuable animals 
had not been brought over from Spain in any considerable numbers as yet, and 
were, therefore, difficult to procure; but had he known the important part they 
were to play in his expedition he would have taken a larger number at what¬ 
ever expense or hazard. Formidable weapons were also scarce, so that he was 
able to arm only thirty of his men with muskets, and thirty-two with cross¬ 
bows, the rest having to be content with swords, spears, and a few battle-axes. 

Thus poorly 
provided in an un¬ 
dertaking to sub¬ 
jugate millions 
whose power he 
had no means of 
knowing, Cortez 
left Havana on the 
18th of February, 
1519, for the shores 
of Yucatan. 

IN THE IDOL TEMPLES 
OF YUCATAN. 

After a stormy 
passage of a week’s 
duration, the ex¬ 
pedition came in 
sight of the Island 
of Cozumel, which 

is a considerable body of land thirty miles from the shores of Yucatan. A large 
number of natives were assembled upon the beach, and viewed in terror the sails of 
the approaching squadron. They were horror-stricken at the spectacle, in expec¬ 
tation of the Spaniards coming to avenge the murder of their comrades under 
Grijalva, whose expedition met with such a sorry defeat at their hands. After the 
squadron had made anchor, a large party of Spaniards debarked and entered one 
of the native temples in which an idol, decorated with gold, was discovered and was 
seized as lawful prey by one of the sub-commanders of the party. Cortez, 
however, rebuked this rash and impolitic act, and not only restored the idol to 
the sanctuary from which it had been ravaged, but took every means to assure 
the natives of his peaceful intentions, by which efforts he finally obtained their 
confidence and opened a lucrative traffic, which redounded in no small benefits 
to the Spaniards. 


CELEBRATING MASS IN THE IDOL TEMPLE OF COZUMEL. 




















UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


191 


A BATTLE WITH THE NATIVES. 

On the 4th of March the squadron departed from the island upon which 
they had had a pleasant stay, and on the following day reached the shores of 
the continent, along which he sailed a distance of 200 miles, until he reached 
the mouth of the river Tabasco, before which he anchored his ships, and with 
a well armed party, in boats, ascended the shallow stream. After proceeding 
several miles he attempted a landing at a beautiful place before which stretched 
a wide and inviting meadow. But he was intercepted by a large party of 
natives, who, flourishing their weapons, shouted words of defiance, and as the 
day was far spent, Cortez prudently decided to wait until morning before en¬ 
gaging the hostiles. He accordingly anchored off shore, where, for the time, he 
would be secure, as no canoes were near in which the natives might reach his boats. 

When morning broke on the following day, there was presented to his 
startled view an enormous force of savages who had been rallying the entire 



night and now stood in battle array, armed with weapons from which the sun 
flashed in blinding brilliancy, and with heads covered with plumes that gave 
them both a wild and martial appearance. The blast of trumpets and the roll 
of drums, mingled with shouts from thousands of dark-skinned natives, was 
quickly answered by the firing of the few muskets that Cortez had, and a 
charge from the entire force of Spaniards. The natives were armed principally 
with bows and arrows, and at the first attack the air seemed filled with these 
missiles. But the Spaniards were protected by their helmets and shields, so that 
few casualties resulted to the invaders, and a heroic charge soon put the natives 
to rout, with a loss of several hundred. The Indians had believed the thunder 
of the cannons and muskets was produced by supernatural powers, and fled 
from what they were convinced was the anger of an enraged god. Only four¬ 
teen of the Spaniards were wounded, and none of these so seriously but they 






192 


UNKNOWN SEAvS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


were able to continue the march. On the following day Cortez proceeded to 
Tabasco, which was the capital of a province in Central America, of which he 
took possession without meeting any resistance from the natives, all of whom 
fled in dismay upon the approach of the invaders. Cortez’ arrival in the town 
was the signal for another gathering of the Indians, who sent out couriers in 
every direction, and in a surprisingly short time thousands came flocking to 
the standards of their chiefs to repel their white foes. But anticipating an at¬ 
tack, Cortez sent back to his vessels for all the arms that were brought over and 
for every man that could be spared from the ships, so that he was able to marshal 
a force of more than 500 men, splendidly equipped, and six cannons the thunder of 
which was more terrible to the natives than the slaughter which they wrought. 

A TERRIBLE SLAUGHTER OF INDIANS. 

On the 25th of March, the great battle which had been anticipated for 
nearly a week began. The enemy is estimated to have numbered 40,000 war¬ 
riors, armed with arrows, slings, stones and javelins, against which there were 
to contend less than 600 Spaniards, whose lack of number was more than com¬ 
pensated by their superior weapons and their religious fanaticism, Cortez having 
been careful to arouse their fervor by declaring that God would fight their bat¬ 
tles for them, and that they were but instruments in His hands to extend 
Christianity in the New World. The natives were first to attack with a volley 
that wounded seventy Spaniards, but only one was killed. But the charge was 
heroically met by the invaders, who opened a fire with muskets and cannons 
that tore great gaps in the ranks of the Indians, and was followed a 
slaughter that has few parallels in the history of Mexico. Cortez, at the head 
of his small force of cavalry, had made a detour, and arrived unperceived in 
the rear of the natives whom he charged with such impetuosity that many 
were trampled beneath the hoofs of his horses and hundreds were cut down by 
the broad-swords of his men. But the slaughter and dismay caused by the 
charge were nothing to the terror inspired by the sight of the horses, which 
the natives had never before seen. They believed that horse and rider was 
some strange creature, half man, half beast, that devoured as well as killed, 
before which nothing mortal could stand. 

The slaughter had now been so great that 30,000 of the natives lay dead 
upon the field, while but two of the Spaniards had been killed outright, and 
scarcely more than a hundred wounded. Terror-stricken and beaten, a panic 
now seized the Indians, and a dreadful rout ensued, in which many more were 
slain. Upon this blood-stained field Cortez now re-assembled his army, and set¬ 
ting up his banner and erecting the cross, prepared to celebrate mass in a 
manner as imposing as the scene immediately before had been awful; the wounds 
of the Spaniards were then dressed with fat stripped from Indians that had been 
killed, and night coming on, peace again brooded over that terrible field. 

The power of the natives about Yucatan having been completely broken, 
they were ready to sue for peace upon any terms, and accepted the conditions 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


193 


which Cortez imposed. They renounced their own religion, embraced Catholi¬ 
cism, destroyed their idols, and accepting the priests that were offered them, 
were confirmed in the holy religion from which they have not since departed. 
Before leaving Yucatan, Cortez was presented with twenty Indian girls whom he 
distributed as wives among his captains, retaining for himself the most beautiful 
one, whose name was Marina. Polygamy was the custom of the country, so that 
this young woman believed her relations to Cortez to be legitimate, and by her 
devotion and loyalty soon won his love. She was the daughter of a powerful 
Mexican cacique, but her father having died, her mother married again, whose 
affections were es¬ 
tranged from the 
daughter by the in¬ 
fluence of a son by 
her second husband, 
so that the beautiful 
Marina was finally 
driven from home, 
and became a slave 
to a merchant of the 
country. Thus she 
acquired the lan¬ 
guage of Yucatan, 
ari being familiar 
also with the Mex¬ 
ican tongue, proved 
invaluable in her ser¬ 
vices to Cortez, not only through her devoted loyalty to him but by acting as 
interpreter through a Spaniard who had some years before been driven by a 
storm and wrecked upon the shore of Central America, among the natives of 
which country he had lived until , the landing of Cortez gave him opportunity 
to escape and join the expedition. 

Leaving Tabasco, Cortez continued his voyage up the Central American 
coast, until he arrived before the Island of San Juan de Uloa, which is at the 
mouth of one of the principal harbors of the empire of Mexico. 




13 






















CHAPTER XVI. 


EMISSARIES OF MONTEZUMA VISIT CORTEZ. 

EZ resumed his voyage up the coast, with 
gay streamers of various colors floating 
from the masts of his vessels, until his 
squadron dropped anchor in the beautiful 
harbor of Uloa, where he was directly 
visited by a canoe bearing two important 
chiefs of the natives, acting as an em¬ 
bassy from the court of the Emperor of 
Mexico. The Indians were not entirely 
unacquainted with the Spaniards, for they 
had met the expedition of Grijalva some 
years before, and held a short intercourse 
with their visitors, which so impressed 
them that when they perceived the large 
squadron now lying at anchor they be¬ 
lieved that the strangers had come with 
the purpose of invading and destroying 
their peaceful homes. The emissaries, therefore, came bearing rich presents to 
Cortez and to pay respectful homage, with the hope of averting the disaster 

which they believed was now impending. Cortez received them kindly, and 

gained their confidence through a long interview, conducted by the aid of Ma¬ 
rina and the Spaniard as interpreters. Having reassured them of his peaceful 
intentions, Cortez obtained the information that 200 miles in the interior was 
the capital of the empire, where dwelt a monarch named Montezuma, who was 
beloved by his subjects, and whose reign extended over a vast realm. He 
ascertained also that the country was divided into provinces, over each of which 
a governor presided, and that the executive over the territory at which he had 

landed was named Teutile, whose residence was some twenty miles distant. 

Dismissing his official visitors with some gifts, and renewed assurances of 
his peaceful intentions, Cortez landed his entire force upon the shore, and set 
immediately about constructing a fortified camp, the outer works of which was 
defended by his artillery, so planted as to command the immediate surrounding 
district. In this work the Spaniards were assisted by the natives, who brought 
daily an abundance of provisions, and in every way manifested their hospitality 
and kindness. 

AN INTERVIEW BETWEEN THE INDIAN GOVERNOR AND CORTEZ. 

After a week spent in this place, during which time the Mexicans and 
Spaniards mingled freely on intimate terms, Governor Teutile, with a numerous 

(194) 










UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


195 


retinue, made a visit to Cortez, at which demonstrations of friendship were ex¬ 
changed. The cupidity of the Spaniards, however, was excited by the rich 
ornaments of silver and gold of the most splendid workmanship which decor¬ 
ated the persons of the governor and his staff, and incited them with a stronger 
desire to penetrate the territory where incredible wealth was now confidently 
believed might be had. At the request of Cortez, Teutile sent a communication 
to Montezuma, informing him of the arrival of the strangers and their desire to 
visit the Mexican capital. This communication was made by picture writing, 
as the Mexicans made no use of letters, which custom was peculiar to all the 
peoples of North America up to the time of the settlement of the country by 
the whites. Mexican painters were also employed to make pictures of the Span¬ 
iards and of the arms which they bore, also of the fleet and the armor, horses, and 
general equipment 
of the expedition, 
by which means 
they were enabled 
to convey to Mon¬ 
tezuma a very cor¬ 
rect idea of the 
arms, character 
and power of the 
Spaniards. 

On the eighth 
day after the trans¬ 
mission of the com¬ 
munication to the 
Emperor, an em¬ 
bassy, consisting of 
two nobles, accom- 

. 1 , CORTEZ RECEIVING THE EMBASSY FROM MONTEZUMA. 

panied by a stan 

of a hundred men laden with magnificent gifts from Montezuma, presented them¬ 
selves before Cortez with the Emperor’s reply. Among the many presents which 
they bore were articles of silver and gold, wrought in such exquisite manner 
that they vastly surpassed the best workmanship of European artists ; and be¬ 
sides these, a Spanish helmet, which had been sent to Montezuma, was returned 
filled with nuggets of pure gold. Accompanying the presents was the following 
reply to the communication transmitted through Governor Teutile: “ Our 

master is happy to send these tokens of his respect to the King of Spain. 
He regrets that he cannot enjoy an interview with the Spaniards, but the 
distance of his capital is too great and the perils of the journey too serious 
to allow of this pleasure. The strangers are, therefore, requested to return 
to their own homes, with these fruits of the friendly feelings of Montezuma.” 
This reply not only disappointed but chagrined Cortez, who, though unwill- 











196 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


ing to immediately offend the great emperor, insisted upon a renewal of 
his request for permission to visit the Mexican capital; but the ambassadors 
assured him that another application would be equally unavailing. However, 
they accepted of a few presents of shirts and ties, and departed again on their 
return to Montezuma, and conveyed this second message from the Spanish com¬ 
mander. 

A PEREMPTORY REFUSAL. 

Days passed without any reply from Montezuma, and as the natives now 
began to feel some uneasiness, they acted with more reserve, and withheld the 
supplies of provisions which they had before freely given. The weather, too, 
was insufferably hot, and a deadly sickness was soon manifested in the camp, 
from which thirty of the Spaniards died. Some of the party were now anxious 
to return to Cuba, fearing to encounter the perils which they must endure on 
a trip through a country of which they knew nothing, and among people whose 
number exceeded the entire population of Spain. But Cortez was not to 
thus supinely abandon an undertaking which promised both wealth and glory, 
and by impassioned appeals and assurances of success he succeeded in exciting 
anew the ambitions of his comrades, and it was determined at length to push 
on, despite whatever might happen, for the Mexican capital. 

At the expiration of ten days, another message was received from Monte¬ 
zuma, more peremptory than the first, declaring that the Spaniards would not 
be permitted to approach the capital, and begging that they would depart 
from his shores, lest the friendship which he entertained might be 
turned to hostility. This reply of Montezuma inflamed Cortez with passion, 
which he made no effort to conceal, and turning to his soldiers he said: “This 
is truly a rich and powerful prince. His great treasures shall repay us well 
for the hardships which we must encounter. If we cannot visit his capital 
by invitation, we will go as soldiers of the Cross.” The ambassadors retired 
with expressions of courtesy, but with manifest displeasure at the pertinacity 
of the Spaniards. 

On the following morning, the huts of the Mexicans about the place 
where Cortez had built his fort were abandoned, and not one native reappeared to 
offer the Spaniards food, or to exchange the kindly civilities which had before 
characterized them. When provisions began to grow scarce, there was another 
disaffection among the members of the expedition, fully one-half of whom 
now seemed so determined to return to Cuba that Cortez apparently acquiesced, 
but secretly set those who were favorable to marching to the capital to cause 
a mutiny in the camp against the proposed return. According to a preconcerted 
arrangement, his emissaries surrounded his tent in the evening, and. with great 
show of force declared that, having entered upon an enterprise of converting 
the country to Christianity, they were determined to persevere in the effort, 
and that if Cortez wished to return with the other cowards to Cuba, they would 
choose another general more valorous, who would lead them through paths of 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


197 


glory to the palace of the idolaters. This ruse was completely successful, for 
Cortez seized the occasion to make another patriotic address to his followers, 
which changed their former determination and set everyone to contemplating 
the wealth and glory which must follow their efforts to win the country to 
Christianity. 


A SELF-CONSTITUTED COUNCIL SET UP BY CORTEZ. 

Cortez now established a settlement on the coast at Uloa, and assembled a 
council for the organization of the government. Before the council thus 
selected, he bowed in obsequious homage, and in order to obtain a commission 
from the government, surrendered the authority which he had received from 
Velasquez, which had indeed been long before revoked; and in exchange was 
tendered a commission from this body ostensibly representing Charles V. of 
Spain. By this means he was chosen Chief Justice of the colony and Captain 
General of the army, thus shaking off his dependence upon Velasquez and 
assuming the dignity of a governor responsible only to his sovereign. 

About this time, and while preparations were being made for the invasion, 
five Indians of rank came soliciting an interview with the commander. They 
represented themselves as envoys from a chief of a province not far distant, 
who reigned over a nation called Totonacs, a people who had been conquered 
by Montezuma and annexed to the Mexican Empire ; but that they suffered all 
manner of severities and trials under their conqueror, and now sought an alliance 
with the Spaniards with the hope that they with their help might regain their 
independence. Cortez saw that this was an opportunity that he could not afford 
to waste, as here lay the means for largely augmenting his force, and by stir¬ 
ring up civil war he might divide the empire so as to make its subjugation 
more easily accomplished. First changing his settlement to a more desirable 
location some forty miles further up the coast, Cortez set himself at the head 
of his army and proceeded on a journey to a city twelve miles in the interior, 
where the cacique resided. When he had arrived within three miles of the 
palace of the chief of the Totonacs, he was met by a vast concourse of men 
who brought presents of gold, fruit and flowers and who omitted nothing in a 
generous exhibition of their friendship and desire for an alliance. 

SCENES IN THE CHIEF CITY OF THE TOTONACS. 

The country through which the Spaniards passed was beautiful almost 
beyond comparison, and the inhabitants possessed elements of refinement which 
might well do credit to the most civilized of European nations. The town too 
was beautifully laid out and handsomely ornamented with shade trees, and was 
as clean as the most carefully swept floor. The chief gave a magnificent wel¬ 
come to his visitors, and exhibited such polished manners as led Cortez to be-, 
lieve that he had acquired his conduct at some magnificent court. After the 
first greeting, the cacique addressed Cortez in these words: “ Gracious stranger, 


198 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


I cannot sufficiently commend your benevolence, and none can stand in more 
need of it! You see before you a man wearied out with unmerited wrong. I 
and my people are crushed and trodden under foot by the most tyrannical power 
upon earth. We were once an independent and happy people, but the prosperity 
of the Totonacs is now destroyed ; the power of our nobles is gone. We are rob¬ 
bed of the produce of our fields; our sons are torn from us for sacrifices and our 
daughters for slaves; and now, mighty warrior, we implore thy strength and 
kindness that thou wouldst enable us to resist these tyrants, and deliver us from 
their exactions.” Promising him his assistance, Cortez rode through the streets 
of the capital, and through the great court of the temple which had been as¬ 
signed for his accommodation. At the head of his column floated gilt-be¬ 
spangled banners, followed by his cavalry of sixteen horses, animals which 
the Totonacs had never before seen, and behind these came the artillery, which, 
in the eyes of the natives, were supernatural agents, dealing lightning bolts and 
thunder roars at the will of the Spaniards. 

On the following morning, Cortez returned to the point selected for the 
settlement, and was met by another cacique, who tendered him the service of 400 
men to assist him in removing his baggage, or to perform any other labors which 
he might desire. The country was densely populated, and Cortez was offered 
such aid that in a short while a sufficient number of huts were erected to house 
all his people, and a flourishing town was brought quickly into existence, the first 
established by whites on the continent of the New World. 

THE CUSTOM OF OFFERING UP HUMAN SACRIFICES. 

Every movement of the Spaniards had been reported to Montezuma, who, 
now perceiving the intention of the strangers, saw the necessity of doing some¬ 
thing to prevent their more thorough establishment in the country. Accordingly 
he sent five messengers, large and imposing men, each of whom carried a bouquet 
of flowers, followed by obsequious attendants. These ambassadors visited the 
settlement with authority from the Emperor to take such action against his 
rebellious subjects as the exigencies of the occasion seemed to justify. They 
commanded that the Totonac chiefs appear immediately before them, which, like 
terrified children, they promptly obeyed. At the conclusion of the interview, 
the Totonacs in great fear appealed to Cortez, informing him of the indigna¬ 
tion of the Emperor at their conduct in supporting the Spaniards, and of his 
demand that, as a penalty for their actions, they immediately surrender to the 
five ambassadors twenty young men and as many young women of the Totonacs, 
to be offered in sacrifice to their gods. The terror inspired by this demand 
may well be excused, when it is known how these sacrifices were obtained and 
accomplished: At the time of Cortez' visit, and long anterior thereto, it was a 
practice among the Aztecs (which word may be used to designate all the peoples 
occupying that territory lying between the isthmus of Darien and the Rio 
Grande river) to make sacrifices of human beings to their Sun god. These 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


199 


victims were generally obtained from the flower of the people, as those thus 
offered up were supposed to be without blemish; otherwise, they would not be 
acceptable to the deity. The place of sacrifice was in the temple court, upon a 
pyramid specially constructed for the purpose. Here the victims were laid upon 
a sacrificial stone, with arms extended and bound with iron wristlets and collar. 
Six priests officiated upon these occasions, one of whom plunged the copper 
knife into the breast of the offering, and tearing out the heart, held that fresh, 
palpitating, and bleeding organ towards the sun, at the same time reciting his 
orisons and devotions. The religion of these people was essentially a bloody 



OFFERING OF HUMAN SACRIFICES. 


one, calling so frequently for human sacrifices that it has been estimated that 
no less than fifty thousand victims were required every year to placate the 
Aztec gods. But in addition to these pious offerings, the Aztecs invariably 
tortured their prisoners and celebrated their victories by the bloodiest rites, and 
not infrequently the bodies were served up and eaten at sacrificial banquets with 
accompaniment of great rejoicing. 

AN ACT OF INCONCEIVABLE PERFIDY. 

When the determination of the ambassadors despatched by Montezuma was 
described to Cortez, he assumed an air of bitter indignation, and set earnestly 














200 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


about promoting an open rupture between the Totonacs and the Mexicans. Not 
only did he declare that God had commissioned him to abolish the abominable 
practices of these heathens, but he commanded the Totonac chiefs to arrest the 
ambassadors and convey them immediately to prison. Having been accustomed 
to look upon Montezuma as the greatest monarch of the earth, whose power 
none might successfully resist, the Totonac chiefs were horrified at the order 
given them by Cortez. But reflecting again upon the surrender of their young 
men and women to be sacrificed for their own rebellious acts, and feeling them¬ 
selves now between two fires, they accepted the last alternative and, with many 
misgivings, they hurried the ambassadors away to prison. This was an act of 
open rebellion, which they realized was unpardonable, and henceforth they were 
to be the slaves of Cortez, to whose strong arm they could alone look for pro¬ 
tection. With a perfidy which the most depraved of human wretches would 
scarcely manifest, on the following night Cortez secretly released two of the 
ambassadors, and with specious words of friendship sent them back to Monte¬ 
zuma, with a. promise to set the others at liberty at the earliest possible moment. 
The next morning, the other three were also set free and were given some 
presents to convey to Montezuma, and bidden specially to report the outrage (as 
he characterized it) which had been committed upon them by the Totonacs. 
Thus, while pretending to be the friend of each, Cortez succeeded in his design 
of setting one part of the empire against the other, and fomenting a rebellion 
of which he was to be the chief beneficiary. 

INDIAN MAIDENS BECOME WIVES TO THE SPANIARDS. 

The settlement which Cortez had thus established he named Villi Rica de 
la Vera Cruz, which interpreted means The Rich City of the True Cross. Its 
location was a few miles above where the present city of Vera Cruz stands. 
Here he remained for some time, and until he received another message from 
the court of Montezuma, which was couched in verjr different language from that 
which had previously been transmitted. The Mexican Emperor, being deceived 
by the specious pretensions of Cortez, and alarmed as well by the appalling 
power which he manifested and which the Emperor believed must be supernatural, 
adopted a conciliatory policy, and even invited Cortez and his soldiers now to 
visit his capital. The peaceful relations which had thus been suddenly estab¬ 
lished between Cortez and Montezuma were kept secret from the Totonacs as 
far as possible, and, appreciating their position towards the Emperor, they omitted 
no opportunity to show their faith and reliance in the strangers with whom they 
had thus formed an alliance,. and to strengthen this bond the cacique made an 
offering to Cortez of eight of the most beautiful maidens that he was able to 
find in the country, and in urging the acceptance of this singular gift begged 
that they be joined in marriage to his officers. This proposition Cortez turned 
to his advantage by a show of gracious condescension and a promise to receive 
them upon the condition that these maidens would renounce their idolatry and 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


201 


be baptized into the holy Catholic Church, which the Totonacs agreed to, 
and thus were the first converts to Christianity made among the people of 
Mexico. 

DESTRUCTION OF THE IDOLS OF THE TOTONACS. 

Having thus succeeded in his first efforts to convert a few of the people by 
peaceful means, he urged upon the Totonac chiefs an abandonment of their 
heathenism and a general adoption of the Catholic faith. But this proposition 
they respectfully declined, reminding Cortez of the power of their gods, whom 
they had from time immemorial faithfully worshipped, and declaring that their 
abandonment now would result in the destruction of the entire nation. This 
loyalty to their religion severely provoked Cortez, who, unable to appreciate the 
nobility of these sentiments, attributed their iuclination to an obstinacy which he 
was determined to 
overcome by force, 
if persuasion were 
unavailing. Accord¬ 
ingly, on the fol¬ 
lowing day, in a 
solid column, the 
soldiers marched di¬ 
rectly to one of the 
most magnificent 
temples of the dis¬ 
trict, and amid the 
panic created by the 
pageantry that he 
presented, he as¬ 
cended with fifty 
of his men up the 
winding stairway 

of the pyramid within the temple’s court, and with violent hands hurled down the 
massive wooden idols, which broke in fragments as they struck the streets. Gather¬ 
ing up the remains, he placed them in a pile and applied the torch, by which they 
were speedily consumed. Appalled by this violence, and realizing their own help 
lessness the Totonac chiefs docilely acquiesced in all the demands made upon them 
by the invaders. Cortez then ordered that the Totonac be dressed in the sacerdotal 
robes of the Catholic priesthood; and placing lighted candles in their hands, he 
forced them to participate in the rites of the Papal church. Upon the apex of 
the pyramid, where human sacrifices had been offered upon more than a hundred 
occasions, Cortez erected an altar, before which mass was solemnly performed. 
And there, on that bloody spot, the psalmody of the Catholic priests ascended 
in the air, the first offering made to the true God from a country in which, aside 
from its religion, there was a splendid civilization. This incident so affected the 



DESTROYING THE IDOLS OF THE TOTONACS. 













202 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


minds of the natives that many wept, and the whole nation directly accepted the 
Christian religion, perceiving its superiority to the brutalities of their own. 

Thus far there had been no serious obstacles to the progress of the purpose 
of Cortez. But about this time, for some unexplained cause, there was another 
disaffection among his soldiers, a party of whom had secretly seized one of the 
brigantines with the intention of escaping back to Cuba. At the last moment, 
however, one of the conspirators disclosed the intention of his comrades, and 
Cortez, at all times fearful of the results of his assumption of the gubernatorial 
position, as already described, determined to make an example of the conspira¬ 
tors. He accordingly ordered all the mutineers to be brought upon shore, where, 
after a brief trial, the two ringleaders were condemned to be beheaded. The 
pilot was committed to the more brutal penalty of having his feet cut off, while 
two others of the foremost sailors received 200 lashes, from the effects of which 
they did not recover for several months. But not entirely satisfied with the 
results of his harsh measures, to prevent the destruction of his disaffected 
followers, Cortez adopted a desperate expedient: He was now upon an unknown 
shore, in the midst of millions of people, the most of whom were loyally attached 
to their emperor, and who by combination might easily accomplish his destruction. 
But dismissing all danger, in his blind ambition Cortez ordered all the vessels of 
his fleet dismantled, and after every movable thing had been placed on shore, 
the ships were scuttled and sunk. At this bold act the soldiers were struck 
with consternation, for they perceived how hopeless was their expectation of ever 
again returning to their friends unless Providence protected them in all the 
perilous marches which lay before them, and which the majority of the com¬ 
pany contemplated with feelings of despair. But their destiny lay entirely in 
the hands of their leader whom it were no avail now to oppose, and their feel¬ 
ings of insubordination gave place to a blind obedience, which was directly 
aroused to enthusiasm and devotion by a thrilling speech which Cortez delivered 
to pacify his men. 

On the 15th of August, 1519, Cortez had so far completed his preparation 
for the great march to the interior that he brought up his little army in review, 
and after putting them through many military evolutions, addressing them again 
in the most impassioned manner, appealing alike to their cupidity and religious 
zeal, he marched out of the town where he had formed a flourishing settlement, 
and set his face towards the capital of Mexico. His force consisted of 400 
Spaniards, armed as already described, fifteen cavalrymen, and seven pieces of 
artillery. The rest of his party he left at the garrison at Vera Cruz, many 
of whom were sick or disabled, and the others were required for the defence 
of the place. But the cacique of the Totonacs furnished him with 2300 men, a 
majority of whom, however, went as porters to the expedition, to carry burdens 
and to draw the artillery. At the head of this considerable force, Cortez set out 
upon a career of cruelty and bloodshed positively unparalleled in American 
history, as we shall see. 


CHAPTER XVII. 

A PICTURESQUENESS OF LANDSCAPE TRULY MARVELLOUS. 



LAMING meads and waving meadows stretched 
away almost as far as the eye could reach 
on either side of the road over which Cortez 
marched his troops towards the magnificent 
capital of the Mexicans. At brief intervals 
Indian villages were passed, out of which came 
the wondering population stricken with amaze¬ 
ment at the military procession as it sped swiftly 
by. On elevated sites, commanding lovely pros¬ 
pects, might be seen beautiful villas of rich 
natives, which betrayed the marvellous wealth 
and unexampled productiveness of the country. 
It was not until the fourth day that they reached 
the mountain slopes of the Cordilleras, at the foot 
of which they entered a large and populous town,, 
called Naulinco, which was distinguished not only for its numerous population, but 
also for its many massive temples, upon whose altars sacrifices of human bodies 
were made many times every year. At sight of these the indignation of Cortez 
was again aroused, and he would have proceeded to demolish both the idols and 
the temples but for the restraint that lack of time -put upon him. He was, there¬ 
fore, content to erect in the broad plaza of the place a giant cross, as a memo¬ 
rial of his visit. 

The route now lay up the mountain side, and it was not until the third 
day, over rugged paths and assailed by fierce storms of wind, that they reached 
a table-land seven thousand feet above the sea. But at this elevation they found 
the country as luxuriant with fields of maize, and as populous with towns and 
villages as the level lands over which they had before passed. On the west¬ 
ward side of this table-land was located the city^ of Tlatlanquitepec, the archi¬ 
tecture of which was vastly more imposing than that of any place the Spaniards 
had seen. The houses were nearly all built of stone, much of which was 
exquisitely carved and of rocks of extraordinary size. But more wonderful than 
these structures were thirteen enormous temples which attested the religious 
fervor of the people. While the sight of these buildings excited wonder and 
amazement, the Spaniards were appalled by the spectacle of one hundred thou¬ 
sands human skulls, piled up in the form of a pyramid, and exhibited as an 
evidence of the devotion of the citizens to their gods. 

(203) 








204 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


The people of the city received Cortez with cold formality and endeavored to 
persuade him against visiting the Mexican capital. But he was not to be thus 
deterred from his purpose, and would have desecrated the temples and destroyed 
the idols of those debased people, as he had done before, had not a priest, a 
prudent father, named Olmedo, who accompanied him, showed the rashness of 
such a course. 

A MEETING WITH THE TLASCALANS. 

After a rest of five days in Tlatlanquitepec, the march was resumed over a 
beautiful roadway that ran along a transparent stream of water and an unbroken 
line of Indian villages. Fifty miles further brought them to the city of Xala- 
cingo, which was on the frontier of a very powerful nation, called the Tlascalans, 
who were not only numerous but so warlike that they had successfully resisted 
every attempt of the Mexican Emperor at their subjugation. Every man among 
them was a warrior, holding himself in readiness for service at any instant, and 
bloody battles were of constant occurrence between them and the Mexicans, by 
which they had been able to maintain their independence. Appreciating the 
importance of an alliance with such a valorous people, Cortez rested several 
days at Xalacingo, and sent an embassy of Totonacs with a courteous message 
to the chief of the nation, soliciting permission to pass through his country. 
Contrary to his expectation, the embassy was not a success, for having had infor¬ 
mation of the landing of the Spaniards, who were represented as being armed with 
thunder and clad with wings, and been informed of the desecration of the temples 
and the destruction of the gods wherever they went, the Tlascalans seized the 
ambassadors and were determined to sacrifice them to their gods. But by some 
means, which history does not explain, the four ambassadors contrived to make 
their escape, came back with all speed to the camp of the Spaniards, and made 
report of the cruel manner in which they had been received. A less bold 
man than Cortez would have hesitated to attempt a passage through the country 
with so small a force in the face of such a number of powerful warriors as 
the Tlascalans were able to muster. But he seems never to have been moved 
by any feelings of fear, but rather by a consuming ambitiou which did not 
allow him to hesitate before any obstacle. Lifting high the standard of the 
Holy Cross, Cortez, again appealing to his soldiers in the name of God, 
resumed his march towards the country which he had been forbidden to enter. 

A BLOODY BATTLE WITH TLASCALANS. 

A few miles brought them in view of a solid wall of masonry, extend¬ 
ing to the right and left, through valleys and over hills, until lost to view. 
It was constructed of immense blocks of stone with a base fully twelve feet 
in thickness, narrowing at the top to half that breadth, and strengthened at 
intervals with castellated parapets, in which respect it bore a striking resem¬ 
blance to the great Chinese wall, and that it was built for a like purpose 
was evident. To the grateful surprise of the Spaniards they found the main 
gate undefended, nor did their approach seem to have been heralded; for no 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


205 


Indians were to be seen until an entrance had been secured, and the march con¬ 
tinued towards the city. Suddenly, from behind the hills and out of the woods 
dashed a large force of Indians, who attacked the Spaniards with the greatest 
fury, and succeeded in killing two of the cavalry horses and wounding several 
of the invaders before Cortez really comprehended his danger. For the moment 
the Spaniards were thrown into disma\q so splendid had been the discipline 
and military tactics of the Indians. But his somewhat distracted force was 
directly rallied by Cortez, who quickly ordered the artillery brought into posi¬ 
tion, and opening fire, a terrible storm of grape-shot went tearing through 
the ranks of the Indians, dealing such dreadful carnage that they were instantly 
thrown into confusion and retreated, leaving six thousand of their dead upon 
the field. This decisive defeat of the Tlascalans resulted to the very great 
advantage of Cortez, for from their ranks he recruited nearly a thousand warriors, 
and the whole nation promptly acknowledged their fealty to the conqueror. 

But, though Cortez subjugated the people about Xalacingo, he was yet to 
encounter other bodies of these people, who were to offer him an obstinate resist¬ 
ance. The recruits which he obtained were therefore carefully drilled, and the 
Totonac allies were also made effective by a discipline which readily made them 
available as soldiers. Cortez recognized the necessity of having every man under 
him, whether porter or servant, sailor or soldier, ready for service in case neces¬ 
sity called. Occasion soon arose to justify and commend this wise precaution. 
A five days’ march after his battle with the Tlascalans brought him to a lovely 
valley, where to his astonished gaze he saw the enemy drawn up in battle array, 
and in such numbers that their boundary on either side could not be perceived. 

ANOTHER TERRIBLE BATTLE. 

It was not until late in the afternoon that Cortez stretched his tent and 
posted sentinels to watch the foe, feeling certain that on the following morning 
he would be required to give battle to an enemy whose strength he was unable 
to estimate. Two of the chiefs whom he had captured at the first battle informed 
Cortez that the foe before him consisted of five divisions of ten thousand men, 
and that each division was under the command of a chief, and designated by a 
distinct uniform and banner. With the hope of averting a dreadful calamity, 
Cortez sent his captive chiefs with a conciliatory message to the enemy, asking 
permission to pass unmolested through their country and declaring that he had 
no designs against the Tlascalans. But to this a fierce reply was returned, to 
the effect that they would not only resist his passage through the country, but 
that if he attempted it they would offer the hearts of the Spaniards as a sacri¬ 
fice to their gods and then devour the bodies, according to the custom with 
which they treated all their prisoners. It was a supreme moment for the 
Spaniards, and fear of the result caused a solemn feeling to brood over the 
camp, and in the night, during the still watches, the voice of prayer arose from 
every tent, for God alone seemed able to deliver them from their desperate 
situation. Cortez nevertheless at no time exhibited any alarm, but went about 


206 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


among his troops encouraging them by every means he was abie 10 put forth, 
and prophesying the certain defeat of the Indians whose power, he declared, 
would be speedily dissipated by the arm of the Almighty. 

At an early hour, on the 5th of September, the blare of bugles aroused the 
sleepless camp, and the order was given to prepare for action. Even the wounded 
men that were barely able to stand in rank with assistance were compelled to 
do such duty as they were capable of performing, while the recruits from the 
two Indian nations were stationed in the centre, supported on either wing by 
the Spaniards, and the cavalry was sent forward to bring on the battle. As the 
sun rose over the Cordilleras a magnificent view was presented: stretching away 
across the valley from hill to hill, and covering a plain fully six miles 
square, was the vast army of the Tlascalans, sturdily awaiting the moment for 
the conflict. The native warriors were gorgeously decorated with feathers and 
paint and other appliances of barbaric pomp, and as they were separated in 
divisions, Cortez was now able to form a correct estimate of their number, which 
he declares was fully one hundred thousand. Their weapons were slings, 
arrows, javelins, clubs, and wooden swords, while flints were imbedded in their 
wooden weapons, which made them extremely effective in close combat. Scarcely 
had Cortez put his troops in motion towards the valley when a vast field of 
natives began to move with celerity, but military precision, towards their advan¬ 
cing foe, and in a few moments the attack was begun by such a discharge of 
arrows and darts from the Tlascalans as to fairly becloud the sky. The armor 
worn by the Spaniards was scarcely a sufficient protection against such a hail 
of weapons, and many fell sorely wounded. But employing tactics which had 
served him so efficaciously in his first battle, Cortez brought up his pieces of 
artillery and opened a fire of ball and grape-shot upon the astonished na¬ 
tives, which slaughtered them in astonishing numbers at each discharge. But 
so desperate was their courage that the Tlascalans, while betraying amazement, 
rushed in and filled up the gaps made by the cannons, and regardless of the 
rain of death that was now mowing down thousands every moment, they con¬ 
tinued valorously the unequal fight. On every side the dead lay piled up in 
ghastly confusion, while of the Spaniards every horse was wounded and seventy 
of the men were severely injured, and nearly every one had been struck by 
some of the flying missiles. The chief of the Tlascalans, at last seeing how 
futile it was to contend any longer with an enemy which he now believed was 
fighting by the aid of supernatural weapons, sounded the retreat. But in retir¬ 
ing, the same discipline that had distinguished their advance characterized the 
present movements of the natives, who left the Spaniards with little more glory 
than the mere satisfaction of having routed their enemies, for exhausted with 
the long and severe fighting, and maimed, wounded, and discouraged, the victors 
sought repose upon the grass, too nearly depleted of physical strength and 
ambition to erect tents for their protection. During the day a storm arose, and 
the temperature fell so low that the sufferings from cold were even greater than 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


207 


from the wounds that the soldiers had received. The previous night they had slept 
little or none through fear of the results of the following day, and the weather 
was now so inclemept that they were unable to obtain the rest and refreshment 
which they so sorely needed. To discouragement a mutinous feeling succeeded, 
and the expedition was again upon the point of disbandment through the open 
threats of more than half the number to abandon a course which seemed so 
hopeless, and which must, if persisted in, bring irreparable calamity upon the whole. 

Our surprise is exceedingly great when reading the reports furnished by 
Cortez, and a comrade named Diaz, who seems to have been historiographer 
of the expedition, to learn that in this bloody contest, in which it is said thirty 
thousand of the enemy were slain, only one Spaniard was killed upon the field 
of battle, and that all their sufferings arose from wounds which in every case 
healed, so there was no substantial loss in the fighting force which Cortez had 
marshalled. 

A THIRD DESPERATE BATTLE. 

Again the influence of Cortez was exerted to quiet the fears and mutin¬ 
ous spirit of his followers, and his success in this effort was as signal as it 
had been on many previous occasions ; for when he was unable to arouse 
them by assurances of the glory that they would obtain, as well as the wealth 
which awaited the expedition at its conclusion, he had the unfailing resource 
of appealing to their religious zeal, which in every instance brought such im¬ 
mediate change that from depression the most mutinous rallied again to his 
standard with assurances of their renewed devotion. On the day succeeding 
the battle, Cortez armed some of his soldiers sufficiently to make a foray among 
the neighboring villages, which he despoiled and burned, taking also 400 prison¬ 
ers, about one half of whom were women. He then pitched his tents and gave 
his soldiers an opportunity for the rest which they had not had since leaving 
Xalacingo. But on the second day he was surprised by an army very much 
larger than that with which he had contended in the unfortunate valley, and 
which, he declares, exceeded 150,000 in numbers. This enormous force had 
been collected through the extraordinary exertions of neighboring caciques, 
who brought their legions from every direction, and appeared in front of Cortez 
without any intimation having preceded them of their intention. Almost as 
quickly as they came in sight this immense army made a fierce charge, and 
descended upon the Spaniards in such awful might that Cortez was completely 
overwhelmed. Everything for a while was in inextricable confusion, the natives 
and the Spaniards grappling in a deadly contest which would have meant anni¬ 
hilation to the Spaniards had not the artillery been brought promptly into 
action, and its thunders inspired the natives with a new terror. For four 
hours this desperate battle continued, at the end of which time, to the surprise 
of Cortez himself, so many thousands of the natives had been slain that the 
rest drew off in hopeless discouragement, feeling that their gods had abandoned 
them and were fighting upon the side of their enemies. When night came on, 


208 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


Cortez made another foray among the villages several miles in .the surrounding 
country’ and after pillaging them of their contents, burned three thousand 
houses and took many of the inhabitants prisoners. Contrary to his previous 
treatment, he kindly cared for his captives, and so amazed the natives by his 
humanity, that, disheartened, the Tlascalans were ready to sue for peace. Ac¬ 
cordingly, they sent a delegation of fifty of their principal men, bearing a great 
quantity of valuable presents to Cortez, and conveyed through a respectful mes¬ 
sage their desire to form an alliance with him. But misinterpreting the purpose 
of their visit, and suspecting some treachery intended, which seems to have been 
thoroughly justified by the second attack that had been made upon them, but 
with inexcusable cruelty he ordered the ambassadors to be seized and their 
hands cut off, and thus mutilated he sent the unfortunate victims back to the 
Tlascalan camp with a defiant reply. 

AN ALLIANCE WITH THE TLASCALANS. 

Subdued by terror and cruelty, and the supposed supernatural power of the 
Spaniards, the chief of the Tlascalans made no further resistance, and with a 
numerous retinue entered the Spanish camp, with abject proffers of submission, 
promising also to prove as faithful in peace as he had been bold in war. Thus 
yielding themselves as vassals to the Spaniards, they completed an alliance with 
Cortez, and the two armies thus amalgamated proceeded together to the great city 
of Tlascala, and there concerted measures against their common enemy, the 
Mexicans. Tlascala is represented by Cortez to have been one of the most im¬ 
posing cities that his eyes ever rested upon, more nearly resembling Grenada, 
the great Moorish capital, than any other place that he had seen. Upon their 
entrance to the city, they were met by an enthusiastic multitude, who came out 
to greet them with barbaric music, preceding native warriors gayly decorated 
with variegated plumes, and clothed in the splendors of half civilization. Among 
the other surprises which awaited Cortez was the splendid police regulation of the 
city and the many luxuries which the people enjoyed; for here he found barber¬ 
shops, and baths with hot and cold water, broad plazas in which native bauds 
of musicians discoursed every evening, flowing fountains, and seemingly all the 
accessories of a highly refined people. On the way, however, fifty-five of the 
Spaniards had died of wounds received in the latter engagement, while the most 
of his army was so fatigued that palanquins had to be provided to convey them. 
Those that were wounded had also received small attention, as the injuries could 
only be dressed with the fat cut from the dead bodies of the natives, the result 
of which treatment Cortez unfortunately neglects to record. But upon reaching 
Tlascala every comfort was immediately provided, not only for the care of the 
sick but for the perfect rest of the fatigued, while provisions were in such abun¬ 
dance that the army forgot their troubles in the luxurious entertainment which 
they now received. It is estimated by Cortez that at least thirty thousand 
people appeared daily in the market place of the city, and that the population 
of the province which he had invaded numbered not less than 500,000. 


CHAPTER XVIII. 

PREPARATIONS FOR THE INVASION OF MEXICO. 

and imposing was the entrance of Coitez 
into Tlascala, while so magnificently hospita¬ 
ble was his entertainment that opportunity 
was offered not only for acquainting himself 
with the resources of the Empire, but for 
persuading the Tlascalans to join him in the 
enterprise of overthrowing Montezuma. So 
well did he succeed that the entire fighting 
force of the province was placed at his disposal, 
and preparations were begun on a gigantic 
scale for the invasion. In the meantime, how¬ 
ever, Montezuma had been made acquainted with 
the result of Cortez’ conquests, and his fears 
being excited that the gods were in some mys¬ 
terious way working to accomplish his ruin, 
with the hope of averting such fate the Emperor sent an embassy of five noble¬ 
men, accompanied by a retinue of 200 prominent men of the empire, to visit 
the Spanish conqueror; nor did he forget to send with them such valuable 
presents that the gold which they brought is alone estimated to have been 
equal in value to $50,000. Accompanying the presents was a message couched 
in the most respectful language, beseeching him not to invade the empire and 
pledging the assistance of the Emperor in any undertaking which Cortez might 
have in mind that did no violence to his own territory. Surprised and angered 
at this sudden change in the disposition of Montezuma, whose invitation to' 
visit the capital had only a few weeks before been extended to him, Cortez- 
returned a reply full of courtesy, but declaring his intention nevertheless to 
visit the Mexican capital in obedience to his sovereign’s order, and intimating 
that he should do so regardless of the wishes of the Emperor, even to the 
extent of employing force and laying waste the country. 

Before departing from Tlascala, Cortez had carried his crusade against idol 
worship and the cruel practices of the natives so far that he prevailed upon his 
new allies to discharge the prisoners whom they had in the temples fattening 
for the next sacrifice; and he also obtained from them a promise to discontinue 
such heathen practices thereafter, a promise, however, which was no longer kept 
than the stay of Cortez in their capital continued, for almost immediately upon 
14 (2°9) 












210 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


His departure the old orgies and bloody rites were re-instituted, and their altars 
flowed with the blood of the offerings of hundreds of victims almost before the 
sound of the tramp of the vanishing Spaniards had died away. 

OBSEQUIOUS MESSAGES FROM MONTEZUMA. 

But Cortez nevertheless left some of the seeds of the church, by receiving 
into baptism five beautiful maidens who had been offered to him by the chief 
of the province, as wives for his soldiers. These, having been first formally 
baptized and received by the church, were left with one priest to propagate 
the faith in Tlascala, while Cortez at the head of an immense army continued 
his journey towards the Mexican capital. About this time also Cortez re¬ 
ceived a second embassy, with even richer presents than those which the first 
had carried, and these, making the most abject obeisance to the white conqueror, 
presented their gifts, together with a message assuring Cortez of the Emperor’s 
high consideration and regard, and in the hope of winning his friendship as 
well as averting the fate which he believed was impending, he renewed his invi¬ 
tation to Cortez to visit his capital and promised him an enthusiastic and 
friendly welcome. But he besought him to form no alliance with the Tlasca- 
lans, whom he designated as the most fierce and unrelenting foes of his em¬ 
pire, and whose natures were so treacherous that they might not be depended 
upon even in the face of the strongest protestations of fidelity. But Cortez no 
longer regarded the messages from Montezuma, having now a sufficient force to 
easily make his way against any resistance that the Emperor was able to offer. 

Indeed, the Tlascalans flocked to his standard in such numbers that Cortez 
declares he might easily have enlisted 100,000 volunteers. But instead of taking 
soldiers from among these indiscriminately, he accepted but 6000 select troops, 
with which large re-enforcement he now set out, with banners streaming, trumpets 
sounding, and his enthusiastic soldiers shouting, for the great Mexican capital. 

The great city of Cholula, having a population of 100,000 souls was only 
eighteen miles from Tlascala. But it was situated in the Mexican empire, and 
the bitterest animosities then prevailed between its inhabitants and the Tlasca¬ 
lans. Cortez was, therefore, warned against treachery in case he made an en¬ 
trance into this city. But, regarding these alarms merely as the fears of an 
excited people, he continued on to this great metropolis, and when in sight of 
its gates a delegation came out to receive him and to pay their respectful 
homage. But though they welcomed him with smoking censers, waving banners, 
and bands of music, the people of Cholula declined to admit their enemies 
within the city walls, and to avoid giving offence before he had been able to 
ascertain what were the defensive forces of the city, Cortez ordered his Tlascalan 
allies to camp outside the walls. It was a city not only of extraordinary pro¬ 
portions, but distinguished for its handsome streets and magnificent dwellings, 
while here and there the most splendid temples rose in grandeur from the city’s 
squares, and there was every indication of extraordinary wealth and the rewards 
of successful industry. 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


211 


MASSACRE OF THE CHOLULANS. 

While viewing the grandeur of the place, Cortez had not failed to note 
several suspicious movements, which his quick comprehension taught him to 
believe denoted that some treachery was in contemplation. To re-enforce this 
belief, two Tlascalans, who had been acting as spies, having entered the city in 
disguise, reported to him that six children had just been sacrificed in the chief 
temple, as an offering to the god of war and as an imploration for the destruc¬ 
tion of the Spanish invaders. This information did not serve to considerably 
increase the fears of Cortez, half-believing that it might be prompted by the 
sincere desire of the Tlascalans to embroil Cortez with their inveterate enemies. 
But the facts as they disclosed them were presently confirmed by testimony 
furnished by Marina, the faithful native wife of Cortez. This woman had by 
some means obtained the confidence of a wife of one of the Cholulan nobles, 
who, to save Marina, had disclosed to her a plot then in progress designed to 
accomplish the ruin 
of the Spaniards. 

She told how deep 
graves had been dug 
in the streets and 
concealed, which 
were intended to 
serve as pitfalls for 
the Spanish cavalry, 
and that stones had 
been carried to the 
tops of the houses 
and temples to be 
hurled at the pro¬ 
per moment upon 
the heads of the 
invaders, as they 
marched through 

the streets. To counteract this treachery, and to bring punishment upon the 
inhospitable people, Cortez conceived a horrible project: He gave orders 
to quietly assemble all the Spaniards and Totonacs, at a given moment, in 
the chief market place of the city, and to come prepared for a desperate 
measure. At the same time he ordered the Tlascalans to approach at a 
given signal, and when he should signify, they were to rush in and fall upon 
the Cholulans, whom they were to strike down and massacre without mercy. 
He next sent a friendly message to the chief men of the city and nobles, re¬ 
questing their immediate presence at a public place in the city, and when these 
responded, an order for the slaughter was given. Taken completely by surprise 
the Cholulans could offer no resistance while the Tlascalans, finding this their 



SLAUGHTER OF THE CHOLULANS. 








212 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


opportunity for a savage vengeance upon their implacable enemies, swept through 
the streets like devouring wolves, and instituted a carnival of blood more terri¬ 
ble than that which drenched the streets of Paris during the slaughter of the Hu¬ 
guenots. They were no respecters of persons: children, women, old age, alike 
fell before the merciless hand of slaughter, and when the carnage ceased the 
pillage began. For two days this riot of murder, plunder, and burning con¬ 
tinued, until at last the city presented the sad spectacle of nothing but smoul¬ 
dering ruins, while the streets were filled with mutilated carcasses polluting 
the air. Six thousand persons were thus massacred, the other inhabitants for¬ 
tunately escaping to the hills and avoiding pursuit. A proclamation of amnesty 
was now issued to the fugitives, who were induced to return to the ruins from 
which they had fortunately escaped; and, as some amends for the ruthless dese¬ 
cration and spoliation that he had wrought, Cortez set about erecting other 
buildings and restoring order, so as to make the place again habitable. The 
idols had all been broken up and the temples defaced, so that Cortez thought 
now was a suitable time to institute the Christian religion. Accordingly, he set 
up in several places crosses and images of the Virgin, and ordered public thanks¬ 
givings to God for having purified the temples of the heathen, and for the 
establishment of the holy religion in the places built by idolaters. 

Some idea of the extraordinary size of the temples which were built in 
Cliolula may be formed by a statement made by the Hon. Widdy Thompson, who 
visited the place where once the city of Cholula stood, in 1842. He says that not 
a single vestige of that great city remains except the ruins of the principal pyra¬ 
mid or temple, which still stands in solitary and gloomy grandeur in the vast plain 
which surrounds it. Its dimensions at the base are 1440 feet, its present height 
177 feet, while the area on the summit is something more than 45,210 square 
feet, or a little more than 212 feet square. A Catholic chapel now crowns the sum¬ 
mit of this enormous mound, the sides of which are covered with grass and trees. 

The terrible massacre of the inhabitants of Cholula was a great advantage 
to Cortez, for the news spread rapidly to all the other cities of Mexico, and so 
appalled the people that from every point came messages of humble submission, 
accompanied by rich presents and offerings, as a propitiation to secure the favor 
of the Spaniards. Montezuma, when he heard of the thunder and lightning of 
Cortez’ artillery, aided by cavalry horses, destroying thousands in the streets 
of Cholula, and that they had even put to flight the vast armies of Tlascalans, 
trembled with fright, and, retiring to his secret chamber spent a week in con¬ 
sultation with his priests, and in petitionings to his gods for protection against 
the ruthless invaders. But the gods of Montezuma had deserted him, as they 
had the Totonacs, the Tlascalans, and the Cholulans, and Montezuma read his fate 
as plainly as Belshazzar perceived the handwriting on the falling walls of Babylon. 

The success of Cortez had also drawn to him many disaffected parties from 
other provinces who had real or imagined grievances against Montezuma, and 
who, while seeking to avenge their wrongs, sought to protect themselves by 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


213 


joining the standard of the invader. Thus Cortez found his force continually 
increasing, until it became so unwieldy that further accessions to his ranks 
were refused. From less than 500 in the beginning his force had augmented 
until it now numbered nearly 20,000, and it might have easily been recruited 
to ten times as many without effort on his part. The most of these, however, 
were hardly available in battle, except as they might be used to draw the fire 
of the enemy and act as a barrier for his own men. With this vast army 
Cortez left the ruined city of Cholula and marched towards Mexico, which lay 
less than seventy miles towards the east. 

The country through which he advanced was luxuriant and immensely popu¬ 
lous ; provisions were everywhere abundant; the water was clear and wholesome, and 
the journey being without annoyances was pleasant in the extreme. There were 
on every side rivers, orchards, lakes, beautiful villages, highly cultivated fields, 
splendid villas, and a 
tropical growth of 
flowers and vegeta¬ 
tion positively amaz¬ 
ing. Through this 
Edenic country Cor¬ 
tez continued his 
journey with short 
advances, being in 
no anxiety to reach 
the end of what was 
proving only a de¬ 
lightful excursion. 

THE FIRST SIGHT OF THE 
MEXICAN CAPITAL. 

It was not until 
seven days a f t e r 

CORTEZ’ FIRST VIEW OF THE MEXICAN CAPITA!,. 

leaving Cholula 

that the Spaniards gained the heights of Ithualco, from which a majestic and splendid 
view of Mexico was obtained. Under the spell of the landscape that spread out in 
picturesque panorama below him, Cortez stood in pious contemplation of how God 
had protected and aided him in carrying the banners of Spain and of the cross over 
such a stretch of productive country, to be planted in the heart of the richest 
heathen nation of the world. As the verdant landscape stretched away into the 
distance, there were outlined against the sky mountain peaks and the snow- 
covered volcanoes of Pococatapetl and Iztaccihuatl, rising in grandeur and over¬ 
topping the great city of Mexico, which lay in queenly splendor upon islands 
in the bosom of Lake Tezcuco, more than five hundred miles in circumference. 
On the margin of the lake were suburbs of the capital, with lofty temples, 
snow-white dwellings, from which long causeways led to the main city that was 















214 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


surrounded by the lake. There were everywhere the indications of a refinement 
fully equal, if not superior, to that found anywhere in Europe. The architecture 
would rival that of the Moors, who introduced into Spain a style which has 
never since been abandoned. There were bridges, and buildings, and tunnels 
that exhibited the most splendid engineering skill; factories that provided the 
most costly fabrics; plantations that were most perfectly cultivated, and machinery 
of various kinds that manifested the progressive spirit of the people. Before 
these sights the boldness of the Spaniards recoiled, considering how few they 
were in number aud in the centre of a hostile country where so many hundreds 
of thousands of bold warriors might be mustered upon a call from the Emperor, 
and how easily destruction might be brought upon them if their allies should 
be weaned from the loyalty which they professed. But Cortez exhibited the 
most striking self-assurance, reposing a perfect reliance in the destructive power 
of gunpowder and the protection which the sacred banner of the cross afforded. 

Though Cortez was in sight of Mexico, he was yet some considerable distance 
from the city, and it was necessary to pass through several large towns which 
lay in the Mexican valley. He accordingly marched through the cities of Amaque- 
mecan and Ayotzingo, which, Venetian-like, was built in Lake Chaleo, and 
Cuitlahuac, which was also in the lake, where many floating gardens were 
constructed that moved about like beds of roses driven by the wind; and thence 
on to Iztapalapan, which latter place was near the city of Mexico, and was 
remarkable for a gigantic stone reservoir which had been built of such ample 
dimensions that it held sufficient water to irrigate the grounds over a district 
many miles in extent. It also possessed an aviary filled with birds of the 
most gorgeous plumage and of sweetest song. Here Cortez halted for a day, 
and was most hospitably entertained by the people, who were in constant dread 
lest he should violate their beautiful homes and put them to the sword. 

A SCENE OF BEWILDERING SPLENDOR. 

On the following day, which was the 8th of November, 1519, Cortez pro¬ 
ceeded on his journey to Mexico, and when within two miles of the outskirts 
of the city, he was met by a procession of a thousand of the principal inhabi¬ 
tants, each of whom was provided with a waving plume and clad in the most 
exquisitely embroidered mantle. They came to announce the approach of their 
beloved Emperor, who desired to personally welcome the strangers to his chief 
city. This procession met Cortez as he approached the principal causeway 
leading from the mainland to the island city. It was nearly two miles in 
length, substantially built, and wide enough to admit of a dozen horsemen 
riding abreast. On either side the lake was covered with gondolas and boats of 
various shapes, all laden with interested spectators, while further down the long 
avenue was seen approaching the glittering train of the Emperor, that reflected 
the sunlight back in dazzling splendor from the tinsel decorations of his retinue. 
Montezuma was himself seated in a gorgeous palanquin trimmed with gold, and 
borne on the shoulders of four noblemen, while from the top spread out six gigan- 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


215 


tic plumes of various colors. Immediately before the palanquiu three officers 
walked, each holding a golden mace, while over his head four attendants carried 
a canopy of skilful workmanship, gorgeously embellished with green feathers, 
gold, and precious gems, that sheltered him from the sun. The Emperor wore 
upon his head a crown of gold, which, being open at the top, permitted a beautiful 
head-dress of plumes to project. Over his shoulders he carried a mantle that was 
embroidered with costly ornaments, and was brought together in front with a 
rosette composed entirely of jewels. Buskins fastened with gold lace work were 
worn upon his feet and legs, while the soles of his sandals were of pure gold. 
His features were peculiarly handsome, but he was of an effeminate appearance, 
evidently unused to public appearance and seldom exposed to the sun. 

AN INTERVIEW BETWEEN CORTEZ AND MONTEZUMA. 

As the Emperor drew near, Cortez dismounted from his horse, as Monte¬ 
zuma alighted from his palanquin, and 
they proceeded towards each other. Monte¬ 
zuma was supported by two of the highest 
dignitaries of his court, and other attend¬ 
ants spread before him rich carpets, that 
his sacred feet might not be profaned by 
contact with the ground. He showed in 

news of the arrival of the Spaniards had 
reached his capital. Cortez greeted him, 
and the two extended courtesies in a man¬ 
ner which outwardly professed high appre¬ 
ciation, but inwardly there was a distrust¬ 
ful feeling felt by each. After an inter¬ 
change of civilities, Montezuma conducted PLAN AND surroundings of the city of mexico. 
Cortez to the quarters which had been prepared for his reception in the heart 
of the metropolis. In order to reach these it was necessary for the immense 
cortege to pass over the causeway again, and through streets thronged with 
thousands of men, women and children, who viewed with painful anxiety the visit 
of the strangers. The place assigned to the Spaniards was a palace of immense 
proportions, having a correspondingly large court. It stood in the centre of the 
metropolis, and had been erected by Montezuma’s father, who, not always feeling 
secure of his person, had surrounded the palace with a strong stone wall, sur¬ 
mounted with towers for defence. The proportions of this building may be under¬ 
stood when we know that it was ample for the accommodation of seven thousand 
men, who found very comfortable lodgment in the chambers with which it was 
provided. The rooms which were assigned to Cortez were tapestried with the 
finest cotton cloths, elegantly embroidered, while mats were spread upon the 
floor, soft and downy, which might easily be removed for purposes of cleanli- 


his face the deep anxiety and melancholy 
which had depressed him constantly since 









216 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


ness. Cortez immediately set about securing bimself against the possibility of 
surprise or treachery, and besides keeping nearly the half of his army posted by 
night and day, he planted his artillery in such a manner that it would sweep 
every street leading to the palace. Nor were these precautions ill-advised, as 
subsequent events showed. 

On the following evening after his arrival, Montezuma paid a visit to 
Cortez, taking with him presents of great value, which he distributed among 
the officers and the privates also, after which he retired to the royal audience 
chamber and there held a lengthy interview with Cortez, in which each pro¬ 
fessed a friendship for the other, not omitting to expatiate upon the grandeur of 
their respective countries. When these matters had been talked of to the satis¬ 
faction of each, Cortez conveyed to Montezuma a request, which he claimed to 

have brought from 
his sovereign, 
Charles V., to adopt 
certain laws and 
customs which had 
obtained in Spain, 
and to accept the 
holy Catholic re¬ 
ligion as superior 
to the bloody creed 
which the Mexi¬ 
cans professed. As 
Montezuma lent a 
willing ear to an 
explanation of the 
tenets of Christi¬ 
anity, Cortez was 

impelled to press his request for an abolition of the rites of human sacrifice and 
the eating of the flesh of the victims, to which Montezuma made no other reply 
than a nod of the head, which might be construed either as an acknowledgment 
of the awfulness of these rites, or a determination to continue in their practice. 
After the interview had terminated, Cortez ordered all his artillery, at the moment 
of the setting of the sun, to be discharged simultaneously, in the belief that the 
noise would bring Montezuma to an understanding of the great power which he 
possessed. At the sound of the booming guns, and sight of the dense smoke 
that rolled up in stifling volume, the Mexicans fled in terrorized amazement, con¬ 
firmed in the previously circulated opinion that the Spaniards were favored of the 
gods and fought with supernatural weapons, against which no human agency could 
contend. 







CHAPTER XIX. 


CORTEZ’S FEARS ARE EXCITED BY THE IMPORTUNITIES OF THE TLASCALANS. 

the day following his spectacular entrance 
into the city, which ended with noisy 
demonstration, of roaring cannon and rat¬ 
tle of musketry Cortez proceeded, at the 
head of a retinue of horsemen, on a visit 
to the Emperor, who graciously met him 
at his palace door, and with a large body 
of police accompanied him on a visit to 
the important places of the capital. The 
chief object of interest which attracted the 
attention of the Spaniards was a gigantic 
pyramidal temple, which rose from the 
centre of an extended plain to a height 
of nearly 150 feet, the summit of which 
was gained by an ascent of 114 steps. It 
was upon this pyramid that bloody human 
sacrifices were offered up by the devout Mex¬ 
icans of the city, and before the sacrificial stone, which occupied a corner of this 
altitudinous plain, was the hideous image of two idols, thickly encrusted with the 
dried blood of thousands of victims that had been slaughtered as a propitiation 
before it. On the summit was also an enormous gong, which the priests sounded 
at the time of the execution of their victims, the noise being made to drown their 
shrieks and groans, and to heighten the effects of the ceremony. After viewing 
this horrible spectacle, Cortez besought Montezuma to order an abandonment of 
the bloody rites, and expatiated upon the abominableness of their religion and 
the inefficacy of their gods; which, however, instead of producing a favorable 
impression, caused Montezuma to turn away in anger, shocked at what he 
regarded as the blasphemy of his visitors’ declarations, and, in fear that a swift 
retribution would be wrought by the angered gods, he entreated Cortez to 
appease their wrath by an abjuration of his sacrilegious sentiments. 

Unwilling as yet to proceed to violence to accomplish his designs, Cortez 
hoped to counteract the influence of the Mexican priests by the institution of 
the Christian worship, to which end he converted one of the halls of the 
residence that had been set apart for him into a Christian chapel, where the 
rites of the church were solemnly performed by Father Olmedo, and prayers 
were offered up for the speedy conversion of the heathens. 

(217) 




218 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


Several days were spent inactively, until at length the question arose what 
should be their next proceedings. Cortez was not unmindful of the dangers 
which beset him, for, in addition to being in the centre of a city whose popula¬ 
tion was not less than 500,000 souls, the adjacent district was numerously 
populated, and every advantage was upon the side of the Mexicans for an 
annihilation of the Spaniards, had they chosen to make an exhibition of their 
power. 

The Tlascalans, to whose inveterate enmity for the Mexicans was added the 
fear of punishment for their rebellion against the Emperor, became importunate 
for some action upon the part of Cortez that would inaugurate immediate 
hostilities, thinking that by so doing they would be enabled to wreak a venge¬ 
ance upon their enemies similar to that which they had satisfied upon the 
Cholulans. They accordingly sought every opportunity to impress Cortez with 
the peril of his situation, and daily advised him that the Mexicans were plan¬ 
ning a strategy by which to overcome them. They called to his mind the fact 
that the causeways were bridged at certain intervals, which might be easily cut 
so as to prevent an escape from the Mexicans if hostilities were begun, and 
they directed his attention to many suspicious actions which seemed to confirm 
their worst fears. 

MONTEZUMA SEIZED AND HELD AS A HOSTAGE. 

It was not long until these persuasions induced Cortez to adopt an expedient 
to prevent the fate which had been predicted unless averted by prompt and 
heroic measures. He therefore caused Montezuma to be seized and held as a 
hostage for the safety and peace of his soldiers, an act which he excused by 
the hostile measures adopted by some of the officers of Montezuma, who had 
laid a tribute upon the Totonacs, several of whom had been killed for their 
refusal to make payment of the taxes thus levied. Montezuma at first refused 
to submit to such indignity to his person, but yielded at length, upon the 
assurance that his prerogative as emperor would be in no wise interfered with ? 
and that in the Spanish quarters he would be permitted to execute his edicts 
in the same manner as before. 

The holding of Montezuma as a hostage, however, proved to be only the 
beginning of greater indignities, which Cortez had foreseen could not be con¬ 
tinued without involving the Spaniards and Mexicans in open hostility. His 
next act was the seizure of the chief who had levied tribute upon the Totonacs, 
and in revenge for the execution of those who had refused payments, he sub¬ 
mitted the chief to a torture which wrung from him a confession that he had 
acted upon his sovereign’s orders. Having obtained this admission, Cortez, not 
content with merely torturing the chief and his aids, caused them to be bound 
to stakes in the market places of the capital, where they were burned to death 
before the gaze of the terrified inhabitants. A raid was then made upon the 
magazine of the city, from which was forcibly taken all the arms, consisting 
of javelins, spears, arrows, and clubs, which were thrown into a pile and con- 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


219 


sumed, thus greatly reducing the power of resistance to his cruel conduct. 
Continuing his harsh measures, Cortez pitilessly ordered his soldiers to bind 
the hands and feet of the Emperor in iron manacles, and set him out before 
his palace in the character of a common felon until sunset, when the shackles 
were with a show of magnanimity stricken from him. But the insult which 
had thus been offered, in addition to the inexcusable crimes which Cortez had 
perpetrated, while humbling the Emperor, aroused the indignant ire of the 
populace, who began to concert measures for the annihilation of the Spaniards. 
But their attempt at resistance, for the time being, only resulted in the levying 
of a tribute of gold upon the whole of the Mexican territory, by which was 
exacted for the benefit of the conquerors a sum equal to a million of dollars. 

BRIGANTINES BUILT IN WHICH TO ESCAPE IN CASE OF RETREAT. 

Things quieted down again for a while, but there was a constant dread in 
Cortez’s mind that his rash acts would yet lead to disasters, and he continually 
conceived new means for strengthening his position. Retreat by way of the 
causeways, which at intervals might be easily destroyed, was so precarious that 
Cortez set about the building of two brigantines, in which to embark his troops 
in case it became necessary to suddenly abandon the city, when other avenues 
of escape were closed. With the aid of hundreds of natives, whose curiosity to 
see vessels which had never before been upon their waters prompted them to 
lend an industrious assistance, in a few weeks the brigantines were completed. 

Being now more securely situated than heretofore, Cortez resolved upon the 
overthrow of the bloody religion of the Mexicans, and the institution of Catho¬ 
licism in its stead. He again appealed to Montezuma to renounce his false gods, 
but so deeply ingrained was his faith, that the Emperor turned a deaf ear to 
all entreaty, which so provoked Cortez that he ordered his soldiers to inarch to 
the temples and despoil them of every vestige of Paganism. At the first hostile 
demonstration thus made towards the destruction of Mexican idolatry, the Aztec 
priests called the multitude to their assistance, who with every available weapon, 
hastened heroically to the defence of their religious institutions; the force thus 
mustered was so large that Cortez soon discovered how rash had been his under¬ 
taking, and withdrew his soldiers before any violence had been committed. 

CORTEZ DEFEATS A FORCE SENT FROM SPAIN. 

Nine months thus passed with intermittent acts of violence and condescen¬ 
sion, without any substantial gain, or an attempt to execute any radical measures, 
until Cortez received information that a large fleet, and 1500 soldiers, had been 
sent by Velasquez to Mexico, under command of Spanish officers, with orders to 
seize him for his assumption of viceroyal honors and for other acts of insubor¬ 
dination. Narvaez was General-in-Chief of this considerable army, who, beside 
bearing orders from Velasquez, was entrusted with a message from Charles V., 
directed to Montezuma, disclaiming all sympathy in the acts committed by Cortez 
and an appeal to assist in driving the invaders from his country. Upon receipt 


220 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


of this information, which had been secretly conveyed by a friend of Cortez 
after the arrival of the fleet at Vera Cruz, with his characteristic sagacity Cortez 
immediately assembled 250 of his bravest men, leaving the remainder of his 
troops on guard at the Spanish capital, and by forced marches reached Vera 
Cruz in less than a week’s journey. The troops of the fleet had been debarked 
with more than twenty pieces of artillery and eighty horses, and had gone into 
camp at the place of settlement founded by Cortez, to await the landing of their 
stores, which consumed considerable time. This delay enabled him to reach 
Vera Cruz before any intimation of his intentions could precede him, while the 
weather favored his designs in a surprising way. Cortez arrived in sight of 
Vera Cruz just as the shades of night began to envelop the landscape in dark¬ 
ness. An hour later a terrible storm arose, and the rain poured down in such 
torrents that the Spanish camp was compelled to be astir to save some of the 
stores that had been landed. All this favored Cortez, and as he was a man not 
to waste opportunities, at the moment when everything was in greatest confu¬ 
sion, he rushed to the attack. Taken completely by surprise, the Spaniards 
under Narvaez could make no resistance (for indeed they were totally unpre¬ 
pared) and in less than half an hour Cortez was complete master of the situa¬ 
tion and received from Narvaez terms for the most abject submission. Instead 
of submitting his prisoners to any punishments, in a spirit of affected mag¬ 
nanimity he loaded them with favors, and by artful speech contrived to win 
the whole expedition over to his service ; and thus augmented by a force of 
nearly 1500 effective men, all of whom were well armed, and with an ample 
supply of military stores, he started on his return journey to complete the subjuga¬ 
tion of Mexico. On his way, he was joined by two thousand more soldiers of 
the Totonacs, and he felt himself now strong enough to contend with the com¬ 
bined armies of all Mexico. 

A SLAUGHTER OF MEXICANS. 

Scarcely had he started upon his return, when news came to Cortez by a 
messenger that the Mexicans had fallen upon the feeble force which he had 
left under his sub-officer, named Alvarado, and had massacred the entire party. 
With the hope that some might have escaped, and a desire to execute speedy 
vengeance for this act of treachery Cortez made no halts, but pushed on with 
incredible speed, vowing constantly to exterminate every Mexican within the 
capital as he had slaughtered his enemies at Cholula. But when he reached 
the main causeway leading to the capital, he found the bridges still intact and 
the city apparently peaceful, though no one came out to receive him, nor were 
there any demonstrations to indicate that any serious event had transpired dur¬ 
ing his absence. When he gained his quarters, his surprise was all the greater 
to learn that, instead of Alvarado and his command having been massacred, they 
themselves had been the aggressors, and that for some fancied grievance they 
had descended upon the Mexicans while they were in the performance of their reli¬ 
gious rites in the court-yard of the great temple, and had cut down nearly six 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


221 


hundred of the flower of Mexican nobility. The indignation of Cortez, upon 
receipt of this information, was almost boundless—though it is more than pro¬ 
bable that he affected a feeling which, in reality, he did not experience. But 
before the people, he showered upon Alvarado all manner of vituperation, and 
pronounced his conduct that of a madman. The only excuse which his subor¬ 
dinate gave for this atrocious act was that he had suspicions that the Mexicans 
were preparing to cut off his retreat and massacre his soldiers, though he could 
give no substantial reason for this supposition. 

A FURIOUS ATTACK UPON THE SPANIARDS. 

This act of incredible cruelty was followed almost immediately by a desper¬ 
ate resolve upon the part of the Mexicans, who had already suffered the limit 
of indignity and cruelty. So, on every side arose the sound of drums, and 
there was a hurrying to and fro of the natives upon a mission which it did not 
take Cortez long to interpret. His force now consisted of 1200 Spaniards and 
8000 native allies, who were well protected by an encampment encircled by stone 
buildings; but provisions were scarce, and the Mexicans had refused to continue 
their contributions. The dangers of starvation now became greater than the 
power of the Mexicans, and immediate action was necessary to avert a calamity 
which threatened the entire force with destruction. Cortez accordingly sent 400 
of his men into the streets to reconnoitre, but scarcely had they made their 
appearance before the fortress when they were assailed by a large party of Mexi¬ 
cans, who, with cries for vengeance, opened fire with arrows and javelins with 
such effect as to throw the Spaniards into a wild disorder. It was with the 
greatest difficulty that they were able to fight their way back to the fortified 
quarters, having lost in the onset twenty-three killed and twice as many wounded. 
The success of this attack inspired the Mexicans with a new resolution. They 
found that their enemies were not invulnerable, and cutting off the heads of the 
slain, they carried them about the city to show how easily the invaders might 
be destroyed, if the Mexicans would but act boldly and in concert. The fortress 
was now besieged by a body of probably 50,000 Mexicans, while their forces 
were continually augmented by volunteers who poured in from every part of 
the surrounding district. The artillery, which now comprised twenty-five pieces,, 
was opened up and tore great gaps through the assaulting force, but did not 
succeed in putting them to rout as it had done heretofore. Fighting for their 
altars and their gods, the Mexicans were inspired to the most extraordinary acts 
of valor, and twice they were upon the point of scaling the walls and gaining 
the Spanish quarters, and were only prevented by desperate hand-to-hand con¬ 
flicts, in which swords, cannons and muskets of the Spaniards wrought dreadful 
havoc among the unprotected bodies of the besiegers. All day long this fright¬ 
ful conflict continued, until in the evening the ground was covered with the 
slain, and darkness put a stop to the horrible carnage. 

Resolved to adopt a desperate expedient and release himself from an appal¬ 
ling situation, before dawn on the following morning Cortez placed himself at 


222 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


the head of is cavalry, now numbering ioo, and made a rush upon the enemy 
that were sullenly awaiting the light of day to renew the attack. Another 
desperate fight now took place, in which the Spaniards were repulsed, though 
not before they had slaughtered more than a 1000 of the Mexicans, but 
whose numbers had so increased during the night that Cortez estimates their 
force at above 200,000. Nor had they been inactive, for under cover of the 
darkness they had destroyed the bridges which connected portions of the cause¬ 
way, thus cutting off retreat, while great quantities of stone had been carried 
to the housetops, which they poured down with great destruction upon the 
Spanish cavalry, that wounded where their other weapons would have been 
ineffective. Besides the desperate fighting which characterized the day, they set 
fire to a large number of houses, the conflagration of which added immensely 
to the other excitements. 

But towards evening there was a cessation of hostilities both parties for a 
while resting upon their arms, neither being willing to assume the aggressive. 
During this interval however the Mexicans continued to increase, as they had 
the day before, and Cortez, who had been severely wounded in the hand by a 
stone, began now to appreciate the fact that he could only save himself through 
the intercession of Montezuma himself. In this dire extremity, he had the 
audacity to transmit a message to the Emperor, couched in the most beseech¬ 
ing language, deploring the awful carnage that had drenched the streets of 
his fair capital with blood, and begging that he would interpose his royal influ¬ 
ence to put a stop to a slaughter, which, if continued, must end in the entire 
destruction of the city and a greater number of its people. 

WOUNDING OF MONTEZUMA UPON THE WALLS. 

Montezuma, who had watched with bitterest anguish the progress of the 
battle, and had seen so many thousands of his people slain while heroically 
battling for their homes, was moved by compassion not only to hesitate, but 
to actually issue an order for the cessation of hostilities. But the populace 
was now so insanely excited that the order was not credited, and on the follow¬ 
ing morning the battle was renewed and continued through the better part of 
the day, until there lay in ghastly piles, on every avenue and housetop of the 
city more than 50,000 dead bodies of the Mexicans. Suddenly, as if heaven 
itself had declared a truce, the tumult of battle ceased; the Mexicans laid down 
their arms, and stood in an attitude of the most devout veneration. This 
instant cessation was caused by the appearance of the Emperor, who, dressed 
in his imperial robes, walked out upon the walls in front of his palace and 
waved his imperial hand to command the attention of his loyal subjects. In 
this moment of silence he earnestly besought them to cease the fierce conflict 
which was resulting in the destruction of so many thousands of his loyal 
people, giving them his assurance that the Spaniards would retire from the city 
if his subjects would lay down their arms and cease the bloody strife. During 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


223 


the delivery of this peaceful declaration, Cortez had sent a body-guard to stand 
by Montezuma and protect him upon the wall; but, misconstruing this act, 
the Mexicans conceived the idea that their Emperor was but voicing the dicta¬ 
tion of the Spaniards, and that he was, indeed, a prisoner in their hands. 
Their indignation and desire for vengeance was such that there arose a loud 
cry from the enraged Mexicans, which was instantly followed by a shower of 
arrows, two of which pierced the body of the unfortunate Emperor, and he fell 
back badly wounded into the arms of some of the body-guard that had attended 
him. He was tenderly carried to the apartments of his capital, but so thor¬ 
oughly crushed in spirit that he resolved no longer to live to be the subject of 
Spanish tyranny and insult: so, after his wounds had been carefully tended, 
and he had patiently 
submitted himself 
to the care of the 
surgeon, in a mo¬ 
ment when the at¬ 
tention of his atten¬ 
dants was directed 
elsewhere, he tore 
the bandages from 
his wounds and de¬ 
clared his resolution 
to die. This he car¬ 
ried so far that he 
refused all nourish¬ 
ment, and at every 
favorable opportu¬ 
nity he aggravated THE FAEE OF montezuma. 

his wounds, and thus lingering between suffering of both mind and body, in 
three days after the receipt of his injuries he *was released by death from all 
the contentions of this life. 

THE HAND-TO-HAND FIGHT ON THE TOWER. 

The assault which wounded the Emperor was the signal for a fresh renewal 
of the battle, which continued now to rage with intense fury, nor did it abate 
at any time during the whole of the day. The Mexicans contrived to gain 
possession of a high tower which overlooked the Spanish quarters, from which 
lofty vantage they hurled down stones upon the Spaniards, and thus succeeded 
in killing several who were otherwise inaccessible to the weapons of the 
besiegers. So commanding was this situation that Cortez saw the necessity of * 
dislodging the enemy, and to this hazardous enterprise he resolved to lend his 
own aid. His left land had been dreadfully crushed in an attack on the preced¬ 
ing day, but he ordered his shield to be bound to his arm and placed himself 









224 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


at the head of a select party who had been chosen to attempt the dislodgment. 
In spite of a shower of stones and arrows, this heroic body bravely ascended 
until they reached a spacious platform, where a dreadful hand-to-hand battle 
now took place. Two Mexicans, who were members of the nobility, anxious to 
destroy Cortez, even at the sacrifice of their own lives, seized him by the body 
and made a desperate effort to drag him to the edge of the battlements, where 
they had hoped to hurl him and themselves to destruction below. But by his 
wonderful agility and extraordinary strength, Cortez contrived to break from 
their desperate grasp and slay them both, after which the other Mexicans were 
put to rout, and the tower was set on fire. 

The battle thus went on, nor did it halt when night’s shades fell; for 
everywhere the lurid flames of consuming buildings lighted up the scene, and 
enabled the combatants to continue the dreadful slaughter. Thousands had 
been slain, but thousands yet were to pay the penalty of heroism, and so the 
fires, and shrieks, and groans of bloody tumult continued until towards morning 
Cortez summoned the Mexican chiefs to a parley. His beautiful wife, Marina, 
acted as his interpreter and through her he admonished the Mexicans to imme¬ 
diately submit or else suffer the entire destruction of their city and the slaughter 
of every man, woman, and child who composed its population. But the answer 
was a defiant one. The Mexicans had correctly measured the strength of the 
Spaniards. But, against their superior weapons, they were ready to measure 
their own superior numbers. 

RETREATING THROUGH HAIL STORMS OF WEAPONS. 

Failing in his efforts to compromise, or to secure the peaceful withdrawal 
of his troops, while his position was every moment becoming more perilous, 
Cortez resolved to retreat at any hazard, since the dangers which lay ahead 
could not exceed those which encompassed him. To this end he set about the 
construction of movable towers, which, after a week, were so far completed that 
he attempted at midnight to withdraw under their protection. A platform was 
constructed on the top of each tower from which his soldiers might fight, an 
elevation which placed them upon a level with the tops of the Mexican houses, 
while inside were placed the sharp-shooters and the artillery, so disposed as to 
sweep the streets. The army thus singularly protected was separated into three 
divisions, led respectively by Sandoval at the head, Alvarado commanding the 
rear, while Cortez had charge of the central division, in which were placed the 
distinguished prisoners that he had made, among whom were a son and daughter 
of Montezuma, besides many noblemen. He had also provided a portable bridge, 
which he hoped to be of service in throwing across the breaches that had been 
broken in the causeways. Scarcely had this strange march of moving towers 
begun when out of the darkness poured a volley of stones and javelins that 
broke like hail-stones upon the sides of the towers, and harmlessly fell upon 
the ground. Progress was slow, but the Spaniards had provided an effectual 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


225 


protection, while giving such free play for their cannons and muskets, that 
they swept down opposing obstacles and piled up the streets afresh with bleed¬ 
ing victims. Thus the Spaniards moved cautiously and slowly until they at 
length reached one of the broken causeways, when the portable bridge was let 
down in the hope of providing a passage. The head of the Spanish column 
succeeded in crossing, but when the weight of the tower with its heavy contents 
was drawn upon the superstructure, with one great crash it fell into the chasm, 
and left hundreds of Spaniards struggling in the water and with their foes. 
A greater part, however, by some extraordinary fortune, succeeded in escaping, 
and now, abandoning the towers, rushed towards another breach, planting their 
cannon in such a manner - as to partially keep the pursuing Mexicans at bay. 
In the mean time, stones and timbers of every kind torn from demolished 
buildings were thrown into the breach to make a passage; but it was slow 
work, and for two days 
the battle continued as 
before, the Spaniards 
being unable to make 
their escape. 

The story of this 
remarkable battle, 
which continued for 
nearly a week, is more 
tragic than that of 
Waterloo, or of Gettys¬ 
burg, or of the Wilder¬ 
ness. It is so gory 
that pen runs red while 
writing it. It is so 
horrible that heart 
turns sick in its con¬ 
templation. Though the Spaniards numbered less than 1,500, and their loss 
did not exceed 500, owing to the protection which their armor afforded, their 
enemies, whose heroism has perhaps never been equalled in all history, were 
slaughtered in numbers that are positively astounding, and equalled only by 
that of Megiddo’s bloody field. 

A NIGHT OF TERRIFIC AGONY. 

On the last day, the wail of anguish, the groan of dying, the crackling 
of burning houses, the roar of cannon and musketry, the pandemonium of 
noise, were increased by the shriek of the storm that broke in wind and rain, 
as if in sympathy with the woes of the contestants. Under the cover of this 
storm, the Spaniards, having abandoned their towers, sought retreat through 
the two miles of causeway, and were proceeding, apparently without pursuit, 
when of a sudden their progress was stopped by an assault of natives, who 

15 



THE FIGHT AT THE BREACH. 









226 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


poured up from out a thousand boats, where they had been lurkiug in antici¬ 
pation of the approach of the Spaniards. Their attack was one of incredible 
fury, and the defence which the Spaniards made was no less terrible. Under 
the blanket of darkness, it was impossible to distinguish friend from foe, and 
the fight went on without abatement through all the dreary hours of that dis¬ 
mal night, until Cortez, left with scarcely a hundred men, and using the 
bodies of those whom he had slaughtered to bridge the breaches which he had 
yet to cross in order to reach the mainland, pushed on despite the missiles of 
his foes. They at length succeeded by herculean and heroic effort in reaching 
the shores, where the possibility of their escape was increased. But behind 
him he left scores of his faithful soldiers, more than forty of whom, though all 
wounded, were taken alive and reserved for a fate as horrible as he had visited 
upon many of the unoffending Mexicans. Others of his men contrived to 
escape, and he now rallied a feeble force and awaited approaching dawn. 

A GHASTLY SIGHT. 

When the sun uprose, it shone down upon a spectacle that wounds the 
eye of remembrance. Along the two miles’ length of that causeway lay piled 
in confusion and deadly embrace friend and foe, and in the breaches were not 
only thousands of dead and distorted bodies, but baggage of every description, 
cannons, and plundered treasure, while about upon the lake were seen floating 
fragments of every character, including broken canoes and bloated bodies. 
Four thousand of the Spanish allies had given up their lives in this slaughter, 
while 870 of the Spaniards, despite the armor which they wore, had surrendered 
their lives in this horrible and long-continued battle. Cortez himself, though 
inflexible in defeat, and whose heart seemed prompted by the most cruel passions, 
was unable to look upon such a scene without being moved by the mute 
appeals of humanity, and bowing his head, for the first time in his life he 
wept bitter tears of sorrow and disappointment. The Mexicans had suffered so 
seriously in the fight, however, that there was no longer disposition to pursue 
him. They were content to wreak their vengeance upon the captives that had 
been left in their hands, and to permit a retreat of the remnant which they 
knew had received already a punishment which only the hardiest spirits could 
possibly survive. Cortez accordingly retreated to a large stone temple some 
distance from the lake, where he fortunately found both protection and a supply 
of provisions. Here he reorganized as best he could the little force that was 
left him, and after a short rest proceeded upon the long journey back to 
Tlascala, a distance of sixty-four miles, where he reasonably expected provisions 
and relief which he still stood so sorely in need of. But on the way they were 
not to escape further tribulations. The tributary tribes of the Mexicans were 
now set upon their heels and harassed them at every step, and so effectually 
prevented them from securing food on the way that, in their extremity, they 
were at times forced to kill some of the few horses which had survived the 
fight to save themselves Tom starvation. 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


227 


A DESPERATE FIGHT IN THE MOUNTAIN PASSES. 

While pursuing this dreary and terrible march, in passing through a defile 
of the mountains, the Spanish were suddenly brought in sight of an enormous 
army of the enemy assembled upon a plain, awaiting to descend upon them. 
Even the stout heart of Cortez sank with despair before such a spectacle of 
vengeance. But rallying his nearly exhausted band around him, he animated 
them as best he could by a speech appealing to their vanity and to their 
faith in God. At the word of command they dashed into the great masses of 
serried ranks of the enemy. The onset of the Spaniards was so fierce that 
the natives recoiled before it, and knowing the superstitious veneration which 
the Mexicans entertained for their imperial banner, at the head of his force, 
Cortez drove directly towards it, and by unexampled valor he cut a pathway 
through the enemy, and at last, seizing the sacred banner from the hands of 
the bearer whom he had stricken down with his broad-sword, he waved it aloft 
and shouted praises to God for the favors He had bestowed. With cries of 
grief and rage the Mexicans immediately broke in wild tumult, and fled away 
to the mountains, in the belief that their gods had abandoned them, leaving 
twenty thousand of their dead upon the field. 

Without meeting any further obstacles, the Spaniards reached the territory 
of the Tlascalans, where they were hospitably received and generously enter¬ 
tained until the sick and the wounded were fully recovered. It was here that 
Cortez for the first time gave any attention to his own wounds, which had 
now become so severe that he had to submit to an amputation of two of his 
injured fingers, and the trepanning of his skull, that had been fractured by a 
club in the hands of one of the natives, and from which injury he was threat¬ 
ened with concussion of the brain. But he recovered despite the dangerous 
character of his hurts, seemingly destined by fate to continue his career of 
unexampled spoliation, cruelty, and insatiable ambition. 













CHAPTER XX. 

CORTEZ PLUCKS THE FLOWER OF GLORY OUT OF THE BED OF DEFEAT. 


FEAT, misfortune, suffering, tribulation of 
any kind could not repress the indomitable 
spirit of this extraordinary man, and de¬ 
spite the calamities through which he had 
passed, Cortez in his sorest hour resolved 
to seek a means to continue the enterprise 
which had apparently ended so disastrously. 
When able to rise from a bed of suffering, 
he began recruiting his force from among 
the Tlascalans until he had secured the 
co-operation of several thousand, after which 
he -returned again to Vera Cruz, where he 
enlisted as many more of the Totonacs. 
He sent a dispatch also to the sovereign 
of Spain, giving specious reports of his 
acts while in Mexico, and assigning as a 
reason for an invasion of the territory his desire to win souls to God and to 
magnify the splendor of his sovereign. At the same time, or directly after his 
return to Vera Cruz, two ships were seen approaching the harbor, that had 
been dispatched by the Governor of Cuba with supplies for Narvaez, report of 
whose conflict with Cortez had not yet been received. No sooner had these 
vessels dropped their anchors than they were visited by Cortez, whose influence 
seems to have been irresistible, and by his flattering promises he induced the 
crews to enter his service and surrender to him all the stores that had been 
brought over. Three vessels, which had also been dispatched by the Governor 
of Jamaica to conduct an independent expedition of discovery and contest, also 
cast anchor at Vera Cruz about this time, and these likewise fell into the hands 
of Cortez, and the men composing the expedition enlisted under his banner. 
Another ship, that had been fitted out by some merchant, arrived from Spain 
with military stores, the cargo of which Cortez purchased, and then persuaded 
the crew to join his army. He had also sent agents to Hispaniola and Jamaica, 
whose commissions were so successful that in a short while they returned with 
200 soldiers, 80 horses, two cannons, and a large supply of ammunition and 
muskets. In this manner he succeeded in raising his force to 818 foot soldiers, 
86 cavalrymen, three heavy guns, and 15 field pieces. Besides these recruits, 
he enlisted the services of 8000 men of burden, chiefly from among the 
Tlascalans and Totonacs, and provided material for the construction of a fleet 

(228) 






UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


229 


of thirteen brigantines, which were to be carried a distance of sixty miles over 
rough roads on the shoulders of men, for use upon the lake about the city of 
Mexico. Thus provided for renewal of the siege of Mexico, and with a deter¬ 
mination to accomplish the subjugation of the territory, he returned to the 
outskirts of the city and began his preparations to carry it by assault. 

A PLAGUE OF SMALL-POX. 

At the death of Montezuma, his brother, Cuitlahua, succeeded to the em¬ 
perorship, and being more warlike than Montezuma in disposition, it was under 
his energies that the Spaniards had been driven from the metropolis. Directly 
after the retreat of the invaders, he set about fortifying his capital and recruit¬ 
ing and drilling his army that had now become familiar with European weapons. 
He also sent an embassy to the Tlascalans, urging them to remit their former 
enmity and unite with him against the common foe, who, without their assist¬ 
ance, would be helpless. But his overtures to his old enemies were without 
effect, and in addition to the other woes from which he suffered, that had been 
introduced by the Spaniards, small-pox made its appearance in his territory, 
which, breaking out suddenly, swept like a besom of destruction throughout 
the land, until it became a pestilence -so fearful that it threatened the depopu¬ 
lation of the entire country. Within a few weeks’ time several cities were 
plague-stricken, and the living were insufficient to bury the dead, so rapid was 
its ravages. It was not long until the disease invaded the Mexican capital, 
and one of its first victims was the Emperor, Cuitlahua. His death intensified 
the panic, and but for the fact that several Spaniards also succumbed to the 
epidemic, the Mexicans would have no doubt abandoned their city in the belief, 
which for a while obtained, that this disease, of which they had never before 
heard, was another supernatural aid employed by the Spaniards for their de¬ 
struction. 

Cuitlahua was succeeded by Guatemozin, a son-in-law of the late Montezuma, 
who, though only twenty-four years of age, quickly proved himself more heroic, 
resourceful, and indomitable than his predecessors. With an admirable concep¬ 
tion of the exigencies which threatened his crown, Guatemozin set resolutely 
about repairing the damage wrought by Cortez, and putting his capital in a 
more perfect state of defence. Outwardly manifesting a friendly spirit for the 
Spaniards left in the country, he craftily hid his designs, or kept them from 
reaching Cortez. His army, which was recruited to a force exceeding 200,000, 
was carefully drilled, stores of provisions laid in, barricades erected on the several 
causeways, and a large fleet of canoes built to co-operate with the land forces, 
their use having been proved in the battle of the dismal night. 

A BATTLE UPON THE LAKE. 

Cortez having completed his preparations for another siege of the capital, 
by having provided himself with an immense supply of military stores and a 
largely increased force, started on his return for Mexico, presenting a pageantry 


230 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


that attracted to his banner 200,000 Tlascalans and Totonacs, with which army 
he felt himself equal to any undertaking. He proceeded directly to Tepeaca, a 
considerable town on the northern shore of the lake, where he put together 
the timbers of his fleet of thirteen brigantines, each of which he manned with 
twenty-five Spaniards, and set on the prows a cannon, so as to command a 
sweep of the lake. 

A few feeble efforts were made to harass the Spaniards while they were 
at Tepeaca, but it was not until the squadron was ready and the sails were 
spread for crossing the lake to enter upon a siege of the capital, that an attack 
of any pretension was made. Guatemozin, perceiving how these vessels might 
be employed to his great disadvantage, sent against them a flotilla of more than 
three hundred canoes, each manned by twelve natives armed with bows and 
arrows, thinking to overpower the Spaniards and destroy the ships by sheer 
force of numbers. But to his horror he saw his armada run down by the 
large and fleeter vessels, while a hail of grape-shot and showers of arrows from 
the Spanish cross-bowmen literally annihilated the fleet of canoemen, leaving 
the waters red with their blood and choked with their mutilated bodies. A 
wail of anguish went up from the Mexicans at this destruction of their hopes, 
but they were not long permitted to peaceably indulge their lamentations, or 
to make their sacrifices unmolested to their gods, for, having destroyed their 
fleet, Cortez now began the siege in earnest. He divided his army into three 
divisions, under command respectively of Sandoval, Alvarado, and Olid, who 
were to begin the attack upon three separate causeways, while Cortez himself 
assumed command of the brigantines, and co-operated with the land forces by 
attacking from the sides. The bridges over the causeways were obstructed, as 
before described, by formidable barriers, behind which the Mexicans were 
stationed in immense force. But by concentrating a heavy artillery fire upon 
them, these were gradually battered down, and every foot of the way was then 
hotly contested by hand-to-hand conflicts. At the moment of beginning the 
assault, the fleet opened fire from the side and slaughtered thousands, whose 
bodies interposed additional obstacles, which could only be surmounted by 
throwing them over again into the water. 

THE SPANIARDS FALL INTO A TRAP AND MEET WITH AWFUL DISASTER. 

The obstinacy of the Mexicans, despite the frightful slaughter to which they 
were subjected, was so astonishing to Cortez that he feared disaster even at the 
time of his most effective assault, and to provide means for a retreat, in case of 
necessity, he carefully bridged all the breaches, and threw out a force to protect 
his rear. But at length the Mexicans relaxed the vigor of their defence, and by 
inaction lured the Spaniards into the belief that their victory was already secure, 
which so excited their hopes that, unmindful of possible treachery, they rushed 
across the remaining portions of the causeway and directly into the city. The 
strategy which Guatemozin had thus employed, directly became apparent, for sud¬ 
denly the alarm drum sounded from the summit of the great temple, which was 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


231 


the signal for the collection of the full fighting force of the capital, who now, 
in concert, threw themselves in a fierce charge upon the surprised Spaniards. 
So sudden and irresistible was the onslaught that both the Spanish foot and 
horsemen were alike thrown into the utmost confusion and driven in gieat num¬ 
bers back into the last chasm which they had neglected to bridge. For the 
moment defenceless, the Spaniards fell in great numbers, victims to the showers 
of arrows and javelins of their encouraged enemies. More than a score were 
killed outright, while twice as many more were wounded and fell into the hands 
of the Mexicans, besides the loss of a thousand of their allies. This awful and 
unexpected reverse became presently still more dreadful, when the Spaniards 
viewed the frightful fate that was about to overtake their captured comrades. 

A HORRIFYING SACRIFICE OF SPANISH PRISONERS. 

The darkness of night had now settled down, but towards the middle 
watches a great light suddenly appeared upon the summit of the temple, and a 
spectacle speedily followed which fairly froze the blood of the Spaniards, as they 
plainly saw the awful rites that were now being performed. Amid a great 
gathering of priests and waving plumes of soldiery that had assembled in 
great number upon the lofty plain of the pyramid, were to be seen, by the aid 
of the torches, the white bodies of the Spanish victims, as they were stripped 
by their captors and prepared for the sacrifices which were now to be offered up. 

The horrified Spaniards watched their wretched comrades and saw each 
prisoner stretched upon the sacrificial stone, and heard the despairing shrieks 
that went up as the bodies were gashed with the obsidian knife of the priest, 
and the quivering hearts torn out and held aloft as offerings to their gods. 
Diaz, the historian of the expedition, and who was an eye-witness of this fright¬ 
ful scene, gives us the following soul-sickening description : 

“ On a sudden our ears were struck by the horrific sound of the great 
drum, the timbrels, horns, and trumpets of the temple. We all directed our 
eyes thither, and, shocking to relate, saw our unfortunate countrymen driven by 
blows to the place where they were to be sacrificed, which bloody ceremony 
was accompanied by the dismal sound of all the instruments of the temple. 
We perceived that when they had brought the wretched victims to the flat sum¬ 
mit of the body of the temple, they put plumes upon their heads and made them 
dance before their accursed idols. When they had done this, they laid them 
upon their backs on the stone used for the purpose, when they cut out their 
hearts alive, and having presented them yet palpitating to their gods, they drew 
the bodies down the steps by the feet, where they were taken by others of their 
priests.” 

STARVATION COMPELS A RESORT TO CANNIBALISM. 

The elation of the Mexicans at the success of their onslaught was further 
manifested by cutting off the heads of the prisoners whom they had thus sacri¬ 
ficed, which they sent to neighboring provinces as a proof that their gods, now 
appeased by the offering of blood, had abandoned the Spaniards and concerted 



\fvsw?: 


■ 


f.wMtn?* 






ry* 1 



(232) 


MEXICANS SACRIFICING SPANISH PRISONERS TO THEIR GODS 











































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


233 


their destruction. The Pagan priests also predicted that in eight days the enemy 
would be entirely destroyed, and that Mexico would rise from her tribulations 
to greater glory than had ever before dawned upon the people. So great was 
the general confidence placed in this prophecy, that the native allies of Cortez 
began to waver in their allegiance, and to prevent their desertion in a body he 
was compelled to remain inactive until the period set for the calamity should 
have passed. When the eight days were ended, and the gods had not fulfilled 
the prediction which the priests boastfully declared would terminate the conflict, 
Cortez seized the occasion to taunt the Mexicans with their ignorant credulity 
and false reliance, and to claim the favor of Almighty God, who extended His 
protection and conferred power upon the Spaniards. So immediate was the effect 
of this declaration, which seemed to be proved by the circumstances, that the 
Tlascalans not only renewed their adherence, but other natives of the adjacent 
country came flocking to his standard, and thus increased his force by the addi¬ 
tion of nearly 50,000 more active warriors. 

So great now was his army while so obstinate continued to be the resist¬ 
ance of the Mexicans, who, for a while, effectually prevented his progress towards 
the citadel, that a famine broke out among the besiegers, as well as among the 
besieged, and, to the horrors which had been perpetrated by shot, and arrow, and 
lance, and javelin, were now added terrible feasts of cannibalism, a practice easily 
instituted by reason of the custom which had long prevailed among the natives of 
devouring the bodies of their victims at the sacrificial feasts. 

But gradually, almost inch by inch, the Spaniards pushed forward, breaking 
down, but only after the most heroic measures, such barricades as were erected 
in their paths, until after the expiration of nearly two months’ time the broad 
avenues of the city were gained. But here every house was a fortress, from the 
top of which stones were thrown down, while windows were used by the Mexi¬ 
cans from which to pour their hail of arrows upon the invaders. The firebrand 
was therefore again applied, being the only means of dislodging the enemy, until 
half the town was in flames. At the same time, the brigantines kept a careful 
patrol of the lake, to prevent the escape by canoes of any of the inhabitants, 
and continued a desultory fire from the cannons upon buildings where bodies 
of the Mexicans had taken refuge. 

CAPTURE OF THE EMPEROR. 

Though Cortez was gradually and surely reaching the heart of the Mexican 
capital, he was touched with the frightful misery being inflicted alike upon his 
own army and the Mexicans, and time and again sent messages to Guatemozin, 
demanding in the name of humanity the capitulation of the city. But to each 
an indignant and defiant reply was returned, and the unequal fight went on. 
The three divisions had accomplished a passage of the causeways, and had con¬ 
centrated in the great square of the city, from which avenues radiated in all 
directions. Here cannons were planted, and the streets were kept clear of mov- 


234 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


ing bodies, since to appear in such exposed places meant certain death. In this 
desperate situation, the Mexicans at length adopted an expedient for securing 
the safety of their beloved monarch. Soliciting a truce, upon the ground that it 
was necessary to remove the great piles of corpses that were polluting the streets, 
they utilized the time which was thus granted in preparing for a secret removal 
of their Emperor to the main shores. Accordingly, he embarked in a beautiful 
canoe, with several of the nobles of the capital, and was rowed swiftly across the 
lake. But anticipating a ruse of this character, Cortez sent one of his brigan¬ 
tines in pursuit, which intercepted the canoe before it had gone a mile upon its 
way. Cross-bowmen crowded the prow of the vessel ready to discharge a volley 
of arrows at the occupants of the canoe, when, seeing the peril in which their 
Emperor was now placed, the nobles arose and anxiously besought them not to 
fire, confessing that the Emperor was in the boat with them who desired to sur¬ 
render. The canoe 
was brought along¬ 
side, and Guatemo- 
zin, at the command 
of Cortez, was taken 
on board the brigan¬ 
tine and conveyed to 
the shore, with the 
hope that in an inter¬ 
view he might be 
persuaded to surren¬ 
der the city and pre¬ 
vent further carnage. 
Imagine the surprise 
of the Spanish com¬ 
mander when the 
Emperor, instead of 
humbling himself, as he might have been supposed to do, wore a proud and 
imperious air, and grasping the dagger which Cortez wore by his side, in the 
most tragic manner presented it again, and besought him to plunge it into his 
bosom and thus end a miserable life. Cortez endeavored to console him by 
assurances that he should not be treated as a captive, but rather as a dependent 
upon the clemency of the greatest monarch of Europe, who would soon 
restore him not only to liberty but place him again upon the throne which he 
had so valiantly defended. But the Mexicans had been too often deceived by 
the specious words of the Spaniards to place any confidence in present assur¬ 
ances, and understanding the perfidy and treachery which had marked every 
act thus far of the invaders, Guatemozin asked no clemency for himself, but 
begged that Cortez would be merciful to his suffering people and treat with proper 
respect the noble ladies who were with him. 



CAPTURE OF GUATEMZOIN. 











UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


235 


HORRORS WHICH FOLLOWED THE SIEGE. 

The capture of the Emperor and the deplorable straits to which the Mexicans 
were now subjected so completely discouraged them, that they abandoned all 
further defence and permitted the victorious Spaniards to have full and complete 
possession of the destroyed city. 

A period of seventy-five days had been spent in almost incessant conflict, dur¬ 
ing which time scarcely an hour passed that had not been characterized by some 
furious battle. During this unexampled siege, it is estimated that not less than 
140,000 Mexicans perished, while nearly 400 Spaniards and not less than 25,000 of 
their allies met a like fate. The streets were so choked with the dead and dying 
that, to the miseries of famine, a plague of disease quickly followed. Singular 
to relate, the epidemic of small-pox seems to have suddenly abated, but greater 
horrors took its place, and but for prompt measures in disposing of the dead, it is 
probable that scarcely a Spaniard would have been left to tell the story of this 
unexampled siege. For three whole days, all the surviving Mexicans and the 
allies of Cortez were engaged conveying the dead to the hills for interment, and 
this gruesome employment did not stop either night or day until it was completed. 
The streets were then purified by the building of large bonfires and the con¬ 
sumption of such debris as lay scattered about, after which Cortez began a search 
for the large treasures which he had confidently expected to secure. 

It was on the 13th of August, 1521, that the city was surrendered into 
his hands, on which date it may be said that the great empire of Mexico 
perished, and became thereafter a colony of Spain. 

THE TORTURE OF GUATEMOZIN. 

For a week, his search through buildings, and cellars, and channels of 
every description continued, but Cortez was only able to collect of all kinds of 
treasure a sum not exceeding in value $100,000. This small amount of spoils 
was such a disappointment to the Spaniards that they became clamorous for 
the adoption of means that would compel Guatemozin to disclose where his 
riches were secreted. To their enquiries, he responded that nearly the whole 
had been conveyed to the centre of the lake in boats, and there sunk to such 
depths that recovery was impossible. But, not satisfied with this answer, and 
believing that torture might wring from him a confession that much of the 
treasure was yet recoverable from some readily accessible place of the city, the 
more turbulent of the Spaniards became importunate in their demands that 
such disclosure be forced from him. To this proposition Cortez at first opposed 
a vigorous refusal, but as the disaffection of his troops and their clamor became 
greater, he was at length reluctantly compelled to accede to their horrible 
demands. Accordingly, the unhappy monarch, and the cacique of Tacuba, who 
was the highest officer of the Emperor, were brought to the market place, and 
their feet being first drenched with oil, were exposed to the burning coals of a 
hot fire until the soles were entirely roasted. The Emperor bore his sufferings 
with such fortitude as to add lustre to a name which had already been ennobled 


236 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


by his heroism in conducting the defence of his capital. Not once did he give 
voice to the excruciating agony which he must have suffered, which conduct 
so affected Cortez that with his own hands he rescued the imperial sufferer, 
and declared that, whatever might be the sacrifice to himself, the horror should 
not be continued in his presence. 


THE MEXICANS ARE REDUCED TO SLAVERY. 

Cortez now set about restoring the capital, and in making some amends 
for the inexcusable ruin that he had wrought. Though beset by perplexities, 



TORTURE OF GUATEMOZIN AND THE CHIEF OF TACUBA. 


through information and threaten- 
ings which had reached him that 
Velasquez was concerting measures 
to bring him to punishment for 
the power which he had without 
men to work, with the aid of 
labor went on without inter¬ 
fere arose out of the ashes 


authority assumed, he nevertheless set his 
their allies, to rebuild the fallen capital. The 
ruption, and so speedily that in a few months tnere arose 
of Mexico new buildings, in many points equalling in grandeur those which 
they replaced; at the same time Cortez constructed for himself a palace which 
has rarely been exceeded for splendor. But while engaging in this restoration 
































UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


237 


of the capital, he reduced the natives to a condition of servitude which presently 
developed into the most abject slavery, from which the Tlascalans and Totonacs 
alone escaped. The poor natives were compelled to do their work under the 
lash, to labor in the mines, to till the fields, and to engage in all the arts 
under the hand of the most cruel and exacting taskmasters. For this audacious 
and cruel abuse of a sudden power Cortez has never been excused, and in the 
eyes of civilization never can be excused, and it will remain, along with the 
other dark blots upon his character, the one supreme blemish which beclouds 
all the glory which might otherwise brighten his name. 

Occasionally, the natives in remote districts rebelled under the harsh treat¬ 
ment to which they were subjected, and in one instance, in the province of 
Paluco, the number of rebellious subjects exceeded 70,000 warriors, who arose 
with the intention of massacring their masters, and w T ho had ambitious hopes 
even of uniting the natives of the entire territory for an expulsion of the 
Spaniards. So formidable did the insurrection become, that Cortez placed him¬ 
self at the head of an army of 130 horsemen, 250 infantry, and 10,000 Mexicans, 
with which he made a forced march, and engaged the rebellious subjects in 
such a hot contest that the greater part of them were slaughtered, and such a 
signal victory secured that no subsequent efforts of any considerable character 
were made by the Mexicans to regain their freedom. 

For more than four years Cortez devoted all his energies to a rebuilding 
of the Mexican capital, and to a zealous effort for the conversion of the natives 
to Catholicism, and so successful was this attempt that Mexico became, under 
his rule, more magnificent than ever before; and the natives gradually aban¬ 
doned the bloody rites of their ancient worship, and under the influence of the 
Spanish priests became amenable to the church. Numbers of priests were 
brought over from Spain, and twenty-five churches erected within the city, 
while others were instituted in the surrounding country. These had such 
influence that the natives ultimately adopted Catholicism as their religion, to 
which they have continued to adhere to the present time. 

SUSPICIOUS DEATH OF CORTEZ’S WIFE. 

During the quiet life which Cortez lived during these years in Mexico, 
his amiable native wife, Marina, had borne him a son, whose instruction had 
been his constant care, in the hope that his mantle might in time descend 
upon him. In the midst of these pleasant anticipations, he was surprised by 
the sudden appearance of Donna Catalina, the Spanish lady whom he had 
married in Cuba, who had come over, accompanied by her brother, seeking her 
recreant and long-absent husband. Cortez, affecting a pious regard for the 
tenets of the religion which he professed, could not discard his lawful wife, 
and made pretensions of great joy at having been thus reunited to her. But 
at the expiration of three months she died suddenly, some say from a natural 
cause, but more suspicious minds entertain the belief that her life was cut 
short by the agency of poison. 


238 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


Peace had spread her white wings over the fair territory of Mexico, and 
Cortez was permitted for a while to enjoy her benefactions. But to one of his 
restless spirit, designs and ambitions would not allow a long continuance of 
this peaceful and happy state. Charges he knew had been prepared against 
him by Velasquez, and industrious enemies were at work at the Spanish court 
to divest him of the glory and honors which he had acquired. To secure the 
favor of the Spanish sovereign, he therefore not only sent emissaries to the 
court at Madrid, but prepared elaborate reports of all the adventures, discoveries, 
and events that had befallen him from the time of his departure from Cuba 
until his subjugation of the Mexican Empire, in which he did not omit to 
show the great advantages which had accrued to Spain through his efforts, and 
the inestimable riches which he had obtained in his conquests, and which, 
under proper convoy, he promised would be sent as an offering to his sovereign. 

THE FATAL REBELLION OF OLID. 

These reports placated whatever hostile feeling might have been directed 
towards Cortez at the Spanish Court, and reposing again in the confidence 
which he had inspired on every side, but still ambitious to acquire greater 
honors, he projected an expedition against Honduras by which he hoped to add 
new lands to the Spanish Crown. He accordingly sent Christoval de Olid to 
found a colony in that country. But this man, while he had been an effective 
commander in the siege of Mexico, was little qualified to undertake such an 
enterprise; for, flattered by the little power which had thus been placed in his 
hands, no sooner had he formed the nucleus of a colony than he threw off his 
dependence upon Cortez, as the latter had upon Velasquez, and asserted his 
independence of all authority save that of the Spanish Crown. Report of this 
assumption of authority reached Cortez, who immediately sent another expedi¬ 
tion, under Las Casas, with five ships and a hundred Spanish soldiers, to arrest 
the disobedient officer. This expedition sailed away over a distance of 2000 
miles to the Bay of Honduras, and arrived suddenly before the town which 
Olid had founded, and which, in a spirit of religious fervor, he had named 
Triumph of the Cross. Olid was taken unawares, and after a very short 
engagement sent a humble message to Las Casas, begging for a truce that 
would enable them to confer upon the terms of surrender. Consent to this request 
proved disastrous to the expedition, for on the same night a tempest arose, 
which wrecked all the ships, and in which thirty of the crew perished. Las 
Casas managed to escape with the others of his party, but, disi. garding the 
truce, Olid, who had now gathered his forces together, seized them and gave 
them the alternative of death or taking an oath of allegiance to his service. 
Las Casas chose the latter, but, feeling justified in any perfidy as an offset to 
that which Olid had practised, he finally succeeded in forming a conspiracy, 
and seizing Olid, without even the preliminaries of a court-martial ordered him 
beheaded. 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


239 


A MARCH CHARACTERIZED BY INCREDIBLE SUFFERINGS. 

Information of the wreck of the vessels by some means reached Cortez, 
but he was not apprized of any of the subsequent proceedings, and so incensed 
was he at the conduct of Olid in violating his truce that he resolved to lead an 
expedition himself and bring a dreadful punishment upon the violator of his 
authority. At the head of ioo Spanish horsemen, fifty infantry, and 3000 
Mexican soldiers, Cortez left Mexico on the 12th of October, 1524, for Honduras, 
which would necessitate a land march of 1500 miles. With the fear that in his 
absence Guatemozin and the cacique of Tacuba, whom he had so tortured, 
might instigate a rebellion, he decided to take those two as captives with him. 
Several Catholic priests also accompanied the expedition with the purpose of 
spreading the teachings of the church among the heathen tribes of Central 
America. Marina, his native wife, also bore him company, as her services were 
indispensable as interpreter. But Cortez, looking forward to an alliance with 
some noble family of Spain, to relieve himself from the embarrassment of a 
native wife, delivered her in marriage to a Castilian knight named Don Juan 
Xamarillo, and as some amends for his conduct, he assigned to the newly 
married couple the most valuable estate in the province of Marina, through 
which the route to Honduras lay. History makes no further mention of Marina, 
but her son, known as Don Martin Cortez, through the patronage of his father, 
became one of the most prominent grandees of Spain, filling many posts of 
opulence and honor; but he was at last suspected of treason against the Home 
Government, and shamefully put to the torture in the Mexican capital some 
time after the death of his father. 

This march of 1500 miles by Cortez was one of the most terrible ever 
undertaken by any commander. The hardships, perils, and starvation which 
beset them were almost incredible, as we read them in the reports made by 
Diaz, who was an enforced member of the expedition. Nor was it free from the 
outrages which characterized the conduct of Cortez from the first moment that 
he landed on Mexican soil. Among his other crimes, during this march he 
seized a pretext for ridding himself of Guatemozin and the Tacuban cacique. 
Pretending that he had received authentic information of efforts being made by 
these two unhappy captives to incite the natives along the way to revolt, he 
required no further proofs than his belief in the truth of such report, and in 
the most hurried manner hung them upon a tree by the wayside, where they 
were left suspended, to become the prey of carrion birds. 

TROUBLES BEGIN TO VEX CORTEZ. 

Cortez was absent nearly three years upon this expedition, and when at 
last he contrived to reach the colony planted at the village known as Triumph 
of the Cross, he found only a few stragglers, and these at peace and ready to 
render him a faithful obedience, while nearly half of those who started with 
him had perished on the way. Cortez then embarked for Cuba, where he was 
received with great demonstrations of respect, but he remained there only a 


240 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


short while, returning again to the Mexican capital, where the people hailed 
him as one come back from the dead, and offered him the most obsequious 
honors, to which he was not wholly unentitled. 

The last days of Cortez were naturally his most unhappy ones. He 
brooded over the crimes which he had perpetrated, over his indefensible sub¬ 
jection to slavery of the people whom he had invaded and despoiled; and, as 
evil is its own avenger, we are not surprised that Cortez should be overwhelmed 
with troubles in his last days. He had now an ample fortune, but his enemies 
were still active in their efforts to bring him to the justice which had long 
been delayed. So serious were these charges, that Cortez finally decided to go 
to Spain in person and answer before Charles V., which he did with such 
address and cunning that he not only succeeded in relieving himself from the 
odium that had been heaped upon him by many of the most influential mem¬ 
bers of the Spanish Court, but for a while he seems to have thoroughly 
ingratiated himself into the favor of the Spanish sovereign, who not only 
knighted him, but made him Governor-General of Mexico for life. During his 
visit to Spain he also formed an alliance, through the niece of the Duke de 
Bejar, with one of the most distinguished families in Spain, and the marriage 
ceremony was honored by the presence of Charles V. and his Queen. 

CORTEZ REDUCED TO POVERTY AND OBSCURITY. 

With his new bride in 1530 Cortez returned to Mexico and occupied the 
magnificent palace which he had built some few years before. But scarcely had 
he departed, when his enemies, again obtaining the ear of the Spanish sovereign, 
at length made such representations, and presented such proofs, that they 
persuaded him to recall the commission issued to Cortez, and to not only 
appoint a new Governor-General, but bring him to the bar of public judg¬ 
ment and trial upon several of the old charges which had been preferred, and 
additional ones that had been framed after his departure. Ignorant of the pro¬ 
ceedings which had thus been instituted against him, Cortez squandered nearly 
the whole of his wealth in fruitless expeditions, sent out for further discoveries 
and the founding of new colonies; and when the ambassadors of the court of 
Charles V. at last reached the Mexican capital, they found Cortez absent on 
one of his ambitious enterprises, and had to wait a period of nearly one year 
for his return. By them he was now divested of his honors, and thrown upon the 
world a poor and prematurely old man, with whose misfortunes very few 
sympathized, while many seized the occasion to wreak a vengeance which had 
long rankled in their bosoms; for Cortez by his vigorous, and not always 
humane actions, had made many enemies, not only at the Spanish Court, but 
in Cuba and the Mexican capital as well. Having spent his fortune in what 
he declared were efforts to advance the interests of his sovereign, in his poverty 
he was induced to return again to his native land in 1540 and make a personal 
appeal to Charles V. for a reimbursement of moneys which he had expended in 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


241 


his service. But though he was graciously received, his petition met with little 
consideration, though every word of promise he took as an encouragement, and 
with lingering hopes he remained in Spain nearly two years. He was at last a 
pitiable spectacle, moneyless, and friendless, with nothing but the glamour of 
earlier heroic days to keep him from the most complete obsecurity. 

THE LAST HOURS OF CORTEZ. 

Crushed in spirit, all hope at last disappeared, and Cortez resolved to 
return again to Mexico, where it were better for him to die in the remembrance 
of the people he had conquered than to perish in neglect in the land of his 
birth. He had proceeded as far as Seville, when he was overcome by his 
melancholy, which took a fatal turn, and he was unable to continue his 
journey any further. Realizing that death was near at hand, he made and 
executed his will iu a manner that manifested the continued vigor of his iron 
■will. He left nine children, five of whom were born out of wedlock, among 
•whom he equally divided the small property which he possessed on the out¬ 
skirts of Mexico. Not being content with the poor accommodations provided 
for him at Seville, at the entreaty of his son, who accompanied him, he was 
removed to the neighboring village of Castilleja. There, on the 2d day of 
December, 1547, he died in the sixty-third year of his age, so completely 
neglected that only his faithful son was present during the last hour. Im¬ 
mediately upon his death there was a reaction among the public in his favor, 
and he seemed suddenly to have been magnified in the eyes of everyone in 
Spain. A vast concourse of people attended his obsequies, and he was buried 
in great pomp in the tomb of the Duke of Madina Sidonia, at Seville. Five 
years later his remains were disinterred and removed to Mexico by his son 
Martin, who deposited them in the family vault in the monastery at Tezcuco, 
where they remained for sixty-seven years and until disturbed again in 1629 
and deposited beneath the Church of St. Francis; here they reposed in peace 
until they were for the third time resurrected, in 1794, and transferred to the 
Hospital of Our Lady of the Conception, which Cortez had founded and 
endowed. The remains when last disinterred were deposited in a glass coffin, 
bound with bars of iron, and over them a splendid monument was reared in 
commemoration alike of his fidelity to the church, his extension of Christianity 
among the pagans of the New World, and of the unexampled military skill and 
spirit which he exhibited. 



16 




CHAPTER XXL 





-e> _srr&" 

had flocked from every 
many strangers. 


MAGELLAN’S VOYAGE TO THE SOUTH SEA. 

REAT and glorious was the day in Seville. Cannon 
thundered from the Alcazar, and were answered 
by carronades on the walls and by salvoes of 
artillery from the ships in the river. The city 
was clothed in its holiday garb. Streamers 
of all colors fluttered from the quaint 
old Moorish houses, garlands were hung 
from the windows and arches of evergreens 
gave the narrow crooked streets the sem¬ 
blance of fairy bowers. Despite the torrid 
heat of a summer sun, the entire population 
appeared in the open air. Men of rank and 
fashion, attired in gaudy silks and costly velvets, 
glittering with jewels, were jostled by peasants 
from the neighboring villages, by beggars who 
part of Southern Spain to profit by the gathering 
of so many strangers. Spanish beauties, peeping coquettishly from under 
the heavy lace mantillas which half covered, half revealed the charm of their 
coal black eyes, were pushed to and fro by bronzed country-women, by the 
sailors of the fleet, by the soldiers of the garrison. Flower girls struggled 
through the crowd, in soft musical tones offering for sale the vegetable gems 
from the gardens which surrounded the city; here and there the venders of tor¬ 
tillas roared forth the excellence of their wares. On stands in the corners of 
the squares, fruit dealers displayed their luscious goods and solicited the atten¬ 
tion of the passers by; in tents set in more secluded spots, old gypsy hags waited 
for customers, and for a piece of silver were ready to promise a fortune and a 
princely husband. Soldiers in glittering armor and with shining weapons passed 
along with martial tread, the admiration of the fair sex and the envy of civil¬ 
ians. Portuguese sailors with red caps and bare legs hurried to and fro; priests 
with sober pace and downcast visage mingled with the throng, and here and 
there the dark face of a Moor appeared, scowling at the hated Christians and 
being frowned on in return. He was a stranger in a land he had learned to 
call his own, for his people had built the walls and the towers of the Alcazar; 
the houses and the churches, the Giralda and the great Mosque, which the 
Christians had just turned into a cathedral, and in which they had placed the 
tomb of Ferdinand III, who took the city from the Moors. Everywhere were 

242) 







UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


243 


crowds and noise, and shouting and rejoicing, and curiosity, for the great Ad¬ 
miral Magellan, or Maghselens, as they called him, was to sail on that day to 
discover and conquer new worlds for the mighty Charles, King of Spain and 
Emperor of Germany. 

A GRAND PROCESSION. 

And now glad shouts cleave the air, for mass , in the great cathedral is 
ended and the Admiral and his men are coming out. Everybody screams as 
loud as he can, the Portuguese sailors loudest of all, for the Admiral is of their 
nation, though the Spanish have 
adopted him; cloaks and stream¬ 
ers are waved in the air as 
the trumpets announce the ap¬ 
proach of the procession. First 
conies a consecrated banner, to fly 
from the mast of the Admiral’s 
ship; then, in order, march the 
sailors and soldiers of the Victoria, 
with their priest following in the 
rear; then a sacred relic is borne 
along by two ecclesiastics escorted 
by the crew of the Concepcion. 

The men of the Santiago come 
next, bearing in their midst, as 
a very precious possession, a bit 
of St. Peter’s coat in a little silver 
shrine, and after them the crew 
of the San Antonio, with a blessed 
crucifix which they were to place 
at the bow of their vessel. A 
band of trumpeters varies the pro¬ 
cession and introduces the crew 
of the Trinidad, the flag-ship of 
the squadron, and before him on a cushion the treasurer of the expedition 
bears the letters-royal, empowering “our faithful servant, Fernando Magallanes, 
to take possession in our name of all countries he might discover.” 

A SIGHT OF BEWILDERING SPLENDOR. 

And now the crowds press closer together and heads are raised with eager 
expectancy, as the commanders of the expedition pass by on horseback, richly 
attired and proudly conscious of their importance. Every one is a soldier and 
sailor of experience and renown, and as they ride by fingers are pointed and 
knowing ones explain to their neighbors that the one in the red cloak is Rod¬ 
riguez Serrano, captain of the Santiago, that the one with tall plumes is Gas- 
par de Quesada, commander of the Concepcion, that the man with the surly, 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN. 




244 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


evil look, and long black hair is Lnis de Mendoza, of the Victoria, that the 
tall man with pointed beard and golden armor is the great noble, Don Juan de 
•Cartagena, who has left his castle to seek renown in foreign countries, and on 
account of his influence at court has been assigned to the command of the San 
Antonio; that the sharp-nosed, inquisitive looking man, who seems to be desirous 
of seeing everything that is to be seen, is one Anthony Pigapheta, a Knight 
of Rhodes, who dabbled in letters, has written a little poetry at times, and is 
consequently looked on as rather a suspicious character; while the broad-shoul¬ 
dered, black-bearded man with a velvet cap and robe trimmed with fur is the 
Admiral himself, who is already not too well liked by his captains, from the 
fact that he is a Portuguese, who managed in some unaccountable way to in¬ 
spire both the Emperor Charles and the great Cardinal Ximenes with a high 
opinion of his ability and so to secure the command of the squadron. The 
knowing ones predict trouble for the Admiral from the pride of Don Juan de 
Cartagena and the machinations of the scheming little priest who is always 
near him, as well as from the well-known surliness and insubordination of 
Mendoza, and the wily craft of Quesada. But the broad-shouldered man in the 
fur-trimmed gown has a resolute look, a big nose and a firmly set mouth, and 
appears able to take care of himself; and those who know something of his 
history opine that Cartagena and the others will do well to take heed how they 
rouse his wrath. 

So on, mid the shoutings of the people, the procession moves to the mole 
of Seville, and the captains and men go on board, and the bishop blesses the 
fleet and crews, and the Admiral goes to the Alcazar, for his preparations are 
not quite complete, but the anchors are lifted, and the ships drop gently down 
the beautiful Guadalquiver to its mouth and there cast anchor at San Lucar to 
wait for final arrangements to be made. 

THE DEPARTURE FROM SEVILLE. 

It was on Monday, August io, 1519, the feast of St. Lawrence, that the 
fleet left Seville, and a few days later the Admiral came down the river in his 
own barge and hurried the preparations to put to sea. One delay after another 
occurred, however, and not until Tuesday, September 20, did the vessels lift 
anchor and stand out to sea. The interval had been well employed, however, 
for in addition to the regular duties of the day, every seaman who could be 
spared from the service of the vessel was required to go on shore and hear mass 
at the church of Our Lady of Barrameda, near San Lucar, and the Admiral 
commanded that before a final start was made every one should confess, receive 
absolution, and partake of the communion. 

On the morning of September 20th, a boat went from the flag-ship bearing 
to the vessels of the squadron the final orders of the Admiral. These written 
documents are still extant, and convey the most minute directions for keeping 
the squadron together. At night a beacon burned from the stern of the Admiral’s 
ship; all manoeuvres were telegraphed to the other vessels by means of the 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


245 


number, or color, or situation of the lamps displayed from the leading ship. The 
orders received, the yawl returned to the flag-ship; the anchors were raised; with 
a rousing cheer the sails went up, and amid salvoes of artillery the fleet put 
to sea, receiving as it passed the blessing of a monk hermit, who lifted his 
hands on the heights of San Lucar and implored the favor of heaven for the 
expedition starting on its way to conquer new lands for the Christian King. 

A VOYAGE TO THE GREAT UNKNOWN. 

“ Where are they going ? ” Nobody knew. A general idea prevailed that the 
discovery of new countries, the conquest of new lands, were the objects before 
the hardy voyageurs, but to what part of the world their prows were to be directed 
no one, not even the captains, could tell. The Admiral had orders from the 
Emperor and Cardinal to sail west to the Moluccas, but he kept his orders secret 
for fear his crew 
might desert, 
and he had good 
reason to do so 
for no one had 
ever been to the 
Moluccas by J" jp 
sailing west, |gp| 
and it was to 
the west Magel 
lan proposed to |Q|jgjj 
go. More than g 
one ship had j 
been cast away | 
on the unknown g 
sands of Amer¬ 
ica ; more than 115 EJ 
one vessel had 
sailed to the 
west and re¬ 
turned no more. 

The sailors did not know all the terrors of the great seas, so imagined 
them far worse than they were. The Parhelia and Paraselene, or mock suns 
and moons, seen over eastern seas were to sailors the reflection of Satanic fires 
that spread in a measureless lake beyond the horizon. The western oceans were 
peopled by demons; somewhere in the west was located Satan’s special dominion, 
and when a ship approached his watery kingdom a giant black hand appeared on 
the surface of the sea and grasped the vessel, drawing it with all its crew beneath 
the waves. So it was not without reason that the Admiral kept his orders to himself, 
for not a man, even of the rough adventurers gathered from all civilized nations, 
would have shipped with him had the full extent of his purpose been known. 



PARASEEENE SEEN AT SEA. 










246 . 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


So the hearts of the sailors were light; others had sailed to the New World 
and brought back wealth; why not they ? Their expedition was the largest 
which had ever left Spain on a western voyage of discovery and conquest. 
They were two hundred and thirty-seven in number, had eighty cannon, the best 
that in that age could be made, abundant provision, ammunition far more than 
they could possibly need, and a reckless spirit of adventure which would carry 
them through any danger. They were all on fire with enthusiasm, and their 
Admiral the most enthusiastic of all, but not the most interested. To their 
historian, Pigapheta, everything was new; he was a landsman, and no sooner was 
he out of sight of land than he at once began voluminous notes and memoranda 
of everything he saw. The sailors laughed to see him running to record in his 
journal things which to them were of every-day occurrence, but Pigapheta was not 
to be discouraged by the laughter and ridicule of the sailors. He persevered, 
and to him we owe the best account of the voyage ever written, for from begin¬ 
ning to end he was a part, and a not unimportant part, of the expedition. 

A MARVELLOUS WATER-YIELDING TREE. 

Six days after leaving San Lucar the Canary Islands were sighted and 
the fleet dropped anchor in the harbor of Tenerifle, where provisions were taken 
in and the already large stores in the holds of the ships were augmented by 
such a quantity as to render starvation an exceedingly improbable result of any 
voyage however long. Then leaving Tenerifle after three busy days of loading, 
they put into the port of Monterose where a large quantity of pitch for the use 
of the vessels was taken on board, and Pigapheta embraced the opportunity of 
this comparatively lengthy stay at the Canary Islands to go on shore and listen 
to a tale told him of a very great marvel: In one of these islands, he says, 
no rain ever falls, nor dew, and the inhabitants would perish for want of 
water were it not for a certain tree which collects the moisture and gives it 
forth in buckets-full at its base. The worthy historian questions whether the 
tree might not be cultivated in such a way as to be made available for a long 
voyage, and he even hints at the propriety of taking a tree on board, but his 
suggestions on this point seem to have been scouted by the commanding officers 
and poor Pigapheta discovered that in naval service it is the part of subordinates 
to know as little as possible. On Monday, the third day of October, the voyage 
really began, when the cliffs of Tenerifle faded from view and the little squad¬ 
ron was alone on the deep. 

MAN-EATERS OF THE DEEP. 

The course of the fleet lay to the south, and for several days they coasted 
along in sight of Africa, then turned their prows to the west and in sixty days 
sighted the coast of Brazil. For a wonder, to Magellan at least, they had rain 
all the way, but as this was the rainy season in that part of the world the 
marvel has been considerably diminished by more accurate knowledge of the 
meteorological phenomena of the Equator. To Pigapheta everything was novel; 
he watched the sharks which followed the ships and listened to the stories of 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


247 



the phosphorescence in the water and believed the assurances of the sailors that 
every sparkle was the soul of a dead seaman waiting for the time when his 
dreary season of penance should be concluded. He piously returned thanks after 
the storm for the appearance of the body of St. Anselm which came in a light 
on the foremast and assured the mariners of safety; he noted what to him was 
a great wonder, the flying fishes, and watched the larger fish chase the schools 


the sailors who assured him that the sharks knew when one of their number 
was about to die, and followed the vessel for the purpose of devouring the 
corpse when it should be committed to the waves. He watched the birds and 
noted in particular one of the kind known as Mother Carey’s Chickens, the 
female of which is superstitiously believed to lay her eggs on the back of 
the male who flies about with them until they are hatched; he watched 


PERILS OF THE DEEP. 




248 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


of flyers, waiting until they should return to the water and then preying upon 
them. Coasting down the shore line of Brazil the fleet put into the ample bay 
of Rio de Janeiro where they traded with the natives, the Spaniards being greatly 
amused at the immense value the Indians seemed to place upon articles which 
to the Europeans were of very trifling consequence. For a comb as much fish 
could be bought as a boat’s crew could devour in a day; for a few brass beads 
a boat-load of bananas could be purchased, and one sailor was much surprised 
by a trade he made, exchanging a playing card for five fowls, both he and 
the Indians conceiving that each had cheated the other. 

GIANTS OF BRAZIL 

The members of the expedition had an exceedingly dim idea of the size 
of the countries they were dealing with and more than one of Magellan’s men 
thought he had made a liberal estimate in the statement that Verzin, or Brazil, 
in size exceeded all France. They did not seem to entertain the dimmest idea 
of the extent of the country, and probably would not have believed the fact that 
in extent Brazil is equal to Europe. The population of the country excited their 
lively interest and not a few stories were picked up by the sailors as to the 
lives and domestic habits of the people. Extravagant enough were these tales 
to the men of that or any other time, and yet they were readily believed. The 
natives of the coast told wonderful yarns of the people of the interior and no 
story was too incredible to be recorded by the historian. The Upland Indians 
were 400 feet high and lived to be two hundred years old; they never slept 
because when they once lay down their joints were too stiff to rise again, so 
that when they rested they leaned against trees or placed their elbows on moun¬ 
tains. They adored a god which appeared to them once a year; they had houses 
the lowest of which was taller than the loftiest mountain ; there was gold in 
such abundance that it was a thing of no regard ; the streets were paved with 
it; the king of that country had it sprinkled before him in yellow showers 
whenever he walked abroad. 

SEEKING A PASSAGE. 

Greedily the eyes of the Spaniards distended when these monstrous fabrica¬ 
tions were commended to their attention, and some were in favor of ending the 
marine expedition then and there and instituting a land march to this marvel¬ 
lous country of gold and giants; but Magellan said no, he had not started to 
hunt giants nor to find gold, but to seek a western passage to the Moluccas 
and the Moluccas he was determined to find. So, leaving the bay of Rio de 
Janeiro the expedition sailed south, and entered the wide estuary of La Plata 
which they deemed the passage of which they were in search. Sailing up the 
bay they continued some distance before they discovered it was not a strait, and 
even the limited geographical knowledge of that time taught Magellan that by 
sailing up a fresh-water river he must sooner or later come to the end of it, 
and back the ships turned, sailed out of the LaPlata and continued to the 
south. 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


249 


ORIGIN OF CANNIBALISM AMONG THE PATAGONIANS. 

Their next landing was among the Patagonians, and when the huge black 
forms of these people appeared on the coast, the sailors readily believed that 
they had in reality arrived in the land of giants. But so far from being sav¬ 
age, the Patagonians received them kindly, brought them food, guided them to 
water, and in every way possible supplied the wants of these strangers whom 
they regarded as having come down from heaven. The kind welcome, how¬ 
ever, was ill-requited, for several of the Patagonians were kidnapped by the 
Spaniards, and some of them put in irons in order to detain them on the 
vessels. In this land, too, they found cannibals and accounted for the origin 
of cannibalism by a story that was told to them in sign language by one of 
the Patagonians, who explained that once upon a time there was an old wo- 



TYPES OF PATAGONIANS. 

man who had an only son. Her boy was killed by a man of the neighboring 
tribe, and the murderer being taken, was brought into the presence of the be¬ 
reaved mother. In her fury she ran at him and bit a piece out of his shoulder 
which so affrighted the captive that despite the strength and vigilance of his 
jailors he broke from them, escaped to his own people, and told them that he 
came near being eaten. In retaliation they really ate the next prisoner they 
made, and so step by step the regular practice of devouring prisoners was in¬ 
troduced among the South Americans. But as the Spanish historian explains, 
“they do not eat him all, but cut the best of him into little bits, and hang 
them in the chimney to dry, so that he will not spoil.” 

The strange appearance and facial disfigurements <?f the Patagonians at 
once attracted the European eye. These natives cut holes in their lips and 



250 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


suspended stones from them, of such size and weight as to draw the lower lip 
down below the level of the chin; they slit their noses, and wore rings pendent 
from those organs. The lobes of their ears were so elongated by the pieces 
of wood placed in them that in one or two cases the lower tips, or lobes, ex¬ 
tended to the shoulders. Their clothing was of skins, and in warm weather 
these were thrown aside from the upper portion of the body and fastened at the 
waist with a cord. But there were other marvels no less wonderful: Pigs 
with five legs, birds which could not fly; animals, the like of which had never 
been seen by Europeans. The boats of the Patagonians were as curious as 
their ears; hollowed out of a single tree, they would hold forty or fifty men, 
while the war canoes, formed of two trunks placed end to end, held a hun¬ 
dred. The people were imitative. When mass was said a number of them at¬ 
tended to see the 
Christians worship; 
when the sailors rose, 
the natives stood up- 
. right; the sailors 
A - knelt, so did the na- 
( ;' tives. Every motion, 
'■ -J every sign performed 

' 1 by the sailors in their 

worship was repeated 
by the Patagonians, 
to the admiration of 
i the Christians, who 
gj said it was pitiful to 
- see these poor heath¬ 
ens thus mocking the 
worship of the true 
God. 



THE PATAGONIAN SHORE. 


WONDERS INCREASE. 

The priests accompanying the expedition took one of the natives in hand 
for education; baptized him by the name of John, taught him to pronounce 
the w r ords Jesus and Maria, and had great hopes of his conversion, until he 
stole a bag of nails and vanished. The Patagonians were a source of amuse¬ 
ment too, for they thought the boats were the ships’ children, and conceived 
that the larger vessels were suckling their young when the yawls were placed 
alongside the ships. Nor did the wonders cease here. Every island was full 
of sea-lions and sea-calves. There were birds so fat that they could not be 
plucked, but were skinned instead. There were animals with the head and 
ears of a mule, the neck of a camel, the body of a deer, the tail of a horse— 
the guanaco. The capture of several of the giants by the Spaniards made the 
natives cautious and unfriendly, and ultimately provoked hostilities between 










UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


251 


them and the visitors, and in a fight which resulted, one Spaniard was killed 
by a poisoned arrow. In revenge Magellan burned the village and sailed away. 
But Pigapheta improved the occasion to learn from the giant prisoner some¬ 
thing of the medical practice of his people, and informs us that when the 
Patagonians had the stomach-ache they put an arrow down their throats the 
distance of two or three feet, which made them vomit at least a bucketful of 
green stuff, whereupon, as might readily be supposed, they got better. When 
their heads ached they made a cut on the forehead, and so for any portion of 
the body which was afflicted. When one died, ten devils appeared and danced 
round the body, and of the ten, one was always much larger than any of the 
rest, and was thereby supposed to be the prince of the devils come to claim 
his own. The giants were expensive passengers, for any one of them at a 
meal ate a half bushel basket full of biscuits and drank a bucketful of water, 
so they were not sorry later on in the voyage when the last one of their 
prisoners, unaccustomed to ship-fare and to the restraints of a vessel, gave up 
the ghost. 















CHAPTER XXII. 


A MUTINY AMONG THE CREWS. 

ORT St. Julian was the headquarters of the fleet 
during the stay of Magellan in the country 
of the giants, and the five months which were 
spent there would have proved a pleasant relief 
for officers and men had not an untoward circum¬ 
stance occurred which, for the time, threatened 
to frustrate the aim of the expedition and 
bring the voyage to an ignominious conclu¬ 
sion. For some time, the watchful Admiral 
had noticed symptoms of disaffection among 
the officers, in a disinclination to comply with 
the spirit of the orders given, but he was re¬ 
luctant to believe that Spanish gentlemen 
would condescend to plot against their commander, 
so he refused to listen to the warnings of his friends 
or to credit the tales of conspiracy which, on more than one occasion, were 
brought to his cabin. At last, the evidence became too strong to be dis¬ 
credited, and he was unwillingly forced to the conclusion that the captains of 
the fleet were bent on his ruin. Inspired, not so much by fear of the length 
of the voyage or the hardships they might be compelled to undergo, as by 
hatred and jealousy of the commander because he was of a different nationality 
from themselves, the four captains formed a conspiracy to desert the Admiral, 
sail back to Spain, and there report that the discovery of a western passage to 
Asia was an impossibility, that they found Magellan was leading them to cer¬ 
tain destruction and so returned and left him to his fate. The particulars of 
the plot were speedily borne to the Admiral by a trusted friend, but Magellan 
chose to wait before resorting to extreme measures. Developments soon came. 
A few days after the information had been given him, a commotion was visible 
on the decks of the ships commanded by the conspirators. Men were hastening 
to and fro; preparations were apparently on foot to set sail and stand out to 
sea. The plot had been well laid. The noble Don Juan Cartagena, whose 
anger at the failure of the Emperor to designate himself as the admiral had 
been smouldering during the whole voyage, incited Mendoza, the treasurer of 
the fleet, to take on himself the responsibility of organizing an open mutiny. 
The vanity of Mendoza was pleased at the attention shown him by the noble¬ 
man, and he readily consented to assume the dangerous task of braving the 

























UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 253 

wrath of the Admiral by assuming command of the three ships which were 
thus to be taken back. When Magellan sent to inquire the meaning of the 
movements on the ships, Mendoza answered boldly that the officers and crews 
were determined no longer to obey the orders of a foreigner, that if Magellan 
would resign and consent to the appointment of Don Juan as Admiral, the 
v °y a g e would continue, but otherwise, they were resolved to return. At the 
same time they invited Magellan to a conference on board Cartagena’s ship. 

ASSASSINATION OF MENDOZA. 

The stern Admiral did not for a moment hesitate as to the course to pur¬ 
sue. He was satisfied of two things: first, that the action of # the mutinous 


ASSASSINATION OF MENDOZA. 

captains was caused by personal jealousy; second, that the sailors, most of 
whom were Portuguese or Italians, were warmly devoted to himself and would 
show the fact were an opportunity given. He went into his cabin, assembled 
a few trusted friends and stated his plan. It was warmly endorsed; then he 
called for volunteers for desperate service. The Spaniards hung back, but the 
Portuguese and Italian sailors came forward with alacrity and volunteered for 
any duty he might require. 














254 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


It was a perilous task he desired them to undertake, nothing less than the 
suppression of a mutiny involving three-fourths of the men of his fleet, but not 
a man faltered when the work was explained, and all vowed to do or die. 
With arms concealed beneath their garments, they crowded into the large boat, 
twenty-two in number, each with the heart of a hero. “ Give away,” and the 
yawl was pushed from the side of the Trinidad, the oars rose and fell in the 
water, and with anxious eyes Magellan looked after the boat and its gallant 
crew as they went forth, perhaps to die for him. In a few moments they were 
alongside the Victoria, and the volunteer leader, one Carvalho, called out that 



port ST. juxjan.—F rom an old copper print. 


he had a message from the Admiral. He- was bidden to come on board; the 
yawl was made fast, and his companions followed him, carelessly exchanging 
greetings with the sailors of the Victoria. 

Carvalho was slow of speech. He began the delivery of the Admiral’s mes¬ 
sage to Mendoza in a low tone, and from what he said it was supposed that 
Magellan was ready and willing to resign in favor of Cartagena. The rebel 
captains looked at each other in triumph. “But,” said Carvalho, “his Excel¬ 
lency bade me whisper this in your ear,” and at this moment, glancing rapidly 
around, and seeing that his companions were all in place, he approached Mendoza as 
though to whisper in his ear. Mendoza inclined his head to listen, and Car- 












UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


2 55 


valho, drawing close to his side, stabbed him to the heart with a stiletto he had 
up to this time concealed in his sleeve. At the same moment Magellan’s men 
threw themselves on the rebel officers, and in five minutes the mutiny was at 
an end; Quesada and Cartagena were in irons, the second officers of their ships 
were appointed to command until further orders from the Admiral, and the two 
ringleaders were in the Admiral’s yawl and on their way to. the flag-ship. 

EXECUTION OF THE CONSPIRATORS. 

On the same day a court-martial was called to try the mutineers, and 
without a dissenting voice the punishment was death. Quesada was at once de¬ 
capitated, and, according to the barbarous practice of the time, his body was 
quartered, and the severed limbs hung on the vessel he had commanded. The 
case of Cartagena presented more difficulty. Mendoza and Quesada had been 
appointed by Magellan himself, but Cartagena was selected by the Emperor, 
and could not, therefore, be dealt with as unceremoniously as they had been. 
Reluctant to put to death one whom the Emperor had honored, and still more 
indisposed to take with him a man who had proven unworthy of confidence, 
Magellan solved the difficulty by ordering Cartagena and the little priest whose 
advice and suggestions had done much to forward the mischief, to be set on 
shore, and at once the squadron set sail from a spot of so evil omen. 

But misfortunes seldom come singly, and the revolt which was near being 
the ruin of the expedition was speedily followed by the loss of the Santiago, 
which was wrecked on the iron-bound coast. Unfortunate as this was it might 
have been worse, for the crew were all saved, as well as much material and a 
large share of the stores. The men were distributed among other vessels, most 
of the Spaniards going, on the San Antonio, and the squadron crept cautiously 
from headland to headland, carefully searching every inlet and bay for the long 
expected passage. Many days were passed in this apparently profitless under¬ 
taking, and again complaints began to arise among the men, but finally, on 
St. Ursula’s Day, October 21, 1520, a bold headland appeared in view to the 
south-west, and in honor of the feast was named the Cape of Eleven Thousand 
Virgins. Off to the south was another cape, and between the two a narrow 
passage with walls of almost perpendicular rock. A most forbidding prospect it 
was, and calculated to daunt the heart of the stoutest navigator, but Magellan 
did not quail. This must be the strait of which he was in search. Carefully 
he passed from one point to another. Days went by, yet there were but the 
precipices above and on either hand; below, water so deep that the longest 
cables would not enable an anchor to catch the rocks on the bottom. Would 
the passage never cease ? A hundred and fifty miles had he traversed with the 
perpendicular walls on either hand. At last came a bay with two openings. 
Which was the right strait? No one could tell. To settle the question the 
San Antonio was directed to explore one, while the Admiral with the other ves¬ 
sels awaited her return and report. Away went the San Antonio, and day after 
day eyes were turned in the direction she had taken, looking for her return, 



(256^ 












































































































































UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


267 


but she came not, and after lingering what seemed to be an unreasonable time, 
the Admiral reluctantly ordered sail to be lifted and ventured into the other 
passage. Chance rightly directed his course, and on November 28, over a 
month from the time he had sailed under the Cape of the Virgins, the lookout 
announced an open sea ahead, and with tears of joy, Magellan ordered a Te 
• Deuni to be sung in thankfulness for the discovery. 

HURRAH 1 AFLOAT ON THE GREAT SOUTH SEA. 

Now surely his troubles were at an end, the Moluccas could not be far 
away. A few days sail over a sea so beautifully placid that he called it the 
Pacific, and the tropical isles would be seen rising in the offing, he would let 
fall the anchor in some well-known port of the East Indies and his fame would 
be secure as the first man who had reached the east by way of the west. The 
wrinkles of care were smoothed out of his brow, he could afford to make merry 
with his men, for the end of the long uncertain voyage seemed at hand. Merrily 
the songs of the light-hearted sailors rang out over a sea as blue as their own 
Medh^ranean; cheerfully the petty officers joked with each other and with the 
men as the necessary duties of the squadron were performed. On their mirth 
there was but one cloud, the uncertain fate of the San Antonio. Had she been 
dashed to pieces on the coast as had the Santiago ? Were her crew now captives 
among the cannibal giants ? Or had she, by fatal chance, got into the Sea of 
Demons and been drawn beneath the waves by the hand of Satan ? But it 
was useless to bemoan her fate till her loss was certainly known, and after all, she 
may have returned to the bay in the strait too late to sail with the squadron; 
may there have found the Admiral’s orders in the cairn built before sailing 
„ and might rejoin the fleet in a few days. So on to the Moluccas, and let the 
San mtonio take care of herself. The prows cleft the waters as the vessels 
sped west before a steady breeze, and every eye was strained ahead to be the 
first to catch sight of the coveted islands. 

STARVATION STALKS THE DECKS. 

A week passes. The Moluccas are further than we thought. A month. 
How great the world is, but we must by this time be almost at the end. 
To-morrow we shall see the green islands just ahead. Five weeks. Will the 
voyage never cease ? Has this ocean no end ? Six weeks. The provisions are 
getting low. The cooks report the stock alarmingly short. Seven weeks. All 
hands are put on famine rations, a handful of bread and mouthful of water. 
Eight weeks. The biscuits are all gone. Even the crumbs are now precious; 
the barrels are swept and the dirty leavings at the bottoms are weighed and 
doled out with stingy hand. And still the ocean is as boundless as before. 
Nine weeks. Starvation fastens its skeleton fingers on the crews, and daily the 
captains report to the Admiral the number of those who died of hunger and 
thirst. Nine weeks and a half. The cry is raised, “ land ahead,” and the sick 
are lifted by their stronger companions to see the welcome sight, and the dying 
revive, only to sink back and perish when the islands are explored and found 
1 7 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 



STARVATION CONFRONTS THE CREW. 

he paces the deck in the night and looks ahead for signs of the land. The 
eleventh week is almost ended, when once again the cry of land is heard, and 
this time there is neither mistake nor deception, for there sure enough are the 
green islands, and under the lee of a shore covered with tropical verdure the 
ships come to anchor, and living skeletons man the boats and go on shore to 
seek food. And they find it, and hope springs anew among the starving men, 
as after a voyage of three months and twenty days, they once more look on 
the welcome earth and see its fruitfulness in luscious productions, and pure spark¬ 
ling water running down the hillside into the sea. 

AMONG THE SOUTH-SEA ISLANDERS. 

Strange people they find on the cluster of islands to which their course 
had been directed; tall, athletic men, with long hair and beards, Albanian caps, 


258 


to be uninhabited and desert, having neither food nor drink. Ten weeks. The 
barren islands long ago disappeared on the horizon, and no others have been seen 
since. The rats, which at first swarmed on the ships, have been caught and 
eaten for food. The ox-hides, which covered the deck, dry and hard from long 
exposure to sun and wind, have been dragged in the sea until soft, then eaten. 
The little water that remains is yellow and foul. Nineteen men have died of 
hunger; thirty-seven are sick and can do no work. There are not enough to 
care for the ships. Scurvy has broken out among the crews. Great ulcers 
appear on their bodies, their gums shrink, their teeth fall out; some have empty 
hollows where they once had eyes. All hope is gone, and yet they do not blame 
the Admiral, for he shares alike with them ; his fare is no better than their 
own. They see how famished he looks, how anxiously he watches; they know 








UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


259 


papyrus cloth about their loins, and armed with spears and arrows tipped with 
the teeth of sharks. Very friendly the islanders proved to the famine-stricken 
Spaniards ; brought food in abundance, and helped them set up on shore the 
tents and booths for the sick. With an abundance of good food, the scurvy- 
stricken were soon well again, deriving more strength from the palm-wine than 
from the fish, yams, cocoanuts, bananas and other dainties which they pur¬ 
chased from the islanders. For it should be understood that to the natives of 
most Pacific islands the palm is their chief reliance, both for food, drink and 
clothing. Of its wood and leaves they construct their houses, its fibre consti¬ 
tutes their clothing, the shell of the cocoanut gives them a drinking vessel, the 
milk is pleasant when fresh, and when fermented a strong and nourishing in¬ 
toxicant, while the meat of the nut is their staple article of food. All these 
uses they taught to the Spaniards, who ascertaining the value of the nuts took 
a large quantity aboard as provision during the remainder of the voyage, pur¬ 
chasing also fowls, pigs, goats and dried fish to provide against a recurrence of 
the famine. 

A FIGHT WITH THE ISLANDERS. 

But in this hospitable land trouble broke out again. The Indians had 
entertained hopes that the Spaniards intended to remain among them, but ascer¬ 
taining that they were soon to leave, determined to profit as far as possible by 
them, and began a systematic course of thieving. Nothing was safe, for the 
natives swarmed about the ships and tents, and laid hands on every article, 
large or small, that was for a moment left unguarded. They were cunning 
thieves, and their toes were as light as their fingers, for when a knife, for in¬ 
stance, was left lying on the ground, an Indian would stand on it, covering it 
with his foot; waiting till he was unobserved, he would lift the knife, grasp¬ 
ing it with his toes, until within reach of his hand, when by a quick movement, 
he would conceal it under his arm, in his cap, or under his waist-clout. Pre¬ 
cautions against the natives were useless; they would hide their stealings in 
their mouths, in their beards and hair, often make off with half a dozen articles 
of value about their person. They were finally forbidden to enter the camp or 
come into the ships, whereupon they became angry, and on more than one occa¬ 
sion stoned the sailors. The Admiral gave them notice that repetitions of such 
acts would be punished, but they laughed at his warning, and on the following 
day a couple of clever rogues swam out to the flag-ship and in broad daylight 
stole the ship’s skiff. This was too much. Arming a number of men, Magel¬ 
lan went on shore, proceeded to the nearest village and demanded the return 
of the boat. The villagers came out, but instead of complying with his request 
laughed at the demand and began an attack on the Spanish force. It was easily 
repulsed, the village was stormed and burned, seven of the islanders were killed 
and others were wounded, the boat was recovered, and in disgust with such in¬ 
corrigible rogues Magellan sailed away and called the islands the Ladrones, or 
the Thieves’ Islands. 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


260 



All was now comparatively plain sailing, for the ocean was left behind, and 
Magellan’s squadron was in the midst of the Eastern Archipelago. Islands were 
on every hand; sandy islands, mere strips of beach saved from the fury of the 
weaves, volcanic islands lifting mountainous heads hundreds of feet above the sea, 
atolls, or circular islands, the rims of volcanoes, which the coral insects had built 
up as the surface of the earth slowly sank, and thus had reared a mighty structure, 
a circular tower of stone, twelve or fifteen hundred feet from the bottom of the 

sea, still carefully preserving the 
lagoon in the centre—he could 
not sail in any direction without 
finding an island. 

HOSPITALITIES OF THE KING AND QUEEN. 

Still to the west he steered, 
and on March 16, 1521, reached 
Samar, among the Philippines. 
He was now directly north of 
the Moluccas, though unaware 
of their proximity, but neverthe¬ 
less he knew that he had accom¬ 
plished the end proposed, that his 
fame was secure as the first nav¬ 
igator who had reached the east 
by way of the west. Aware, 
therefore, that his work was prac¬ 
tically done, he addressed himself 
to the task of making conquests 
for his master. Thenceforth he 
took possession of every island 
he visited in the name of the 
King of Spain, and planted the 
cross as a symbol of its conquest 
and annexation. After thus for¬ 
mally establishing the control of 
Spain over several of the Philip¬ 
pines, he arrived, on April 7, at the 

THE island queen presented with a looking-glass. island of Sebu Here be at once 

opened negotiations with the King, showed him the benefits that would accrue from 
a Spanish protectorate, and so cleverly were his arguments stated that the King not 
only consented to become a Spanish vassal, but also to receive baptism and become 
a Christian. This was a piece of unexpected good fortune, for to make converts 
was as much a part of Magellan’s duty as to complete conquests. A large tent 
formed of the sails of the ships was set upon the shore, the King was baptized 
and named King Charles, and twenty-three hundred of his people were in one 






















UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


261 


day added to the number of believers. Great was tbe rejoicing. All the labors, 
all tbe sufferings of tbe past were forgotten, even tbe loss of tbe San Antonio was 
remembered but for a moment in tbe glory of this splendid triumph. Imposing 
were tbe ceremonials. All the guns of the fleet were loaded and fired again and 
again in honor of the occasion ; all the flags were displayed; all tbe crews paraded 
in their finest uniforms. The sermon of the officiating priest compared the day 
to that of Pentecost. Valuable presents were given by Magellan and the captains 
to the King, who in return sent them whole cargoes of fruits, besides spices, wine, 
oil, and what more than all excited the cupidity of the Spaniards, several bags of 
gold dust. Visits of ceremony were exchanged between the King and the Admiral; 
Pigapheta went to visit the queen, and delighted her beyond expression with the 
gift of a looking-glass. She insisted that she too must be baptized, and a day 
was appointed for the public ceremony. Clad in costly garments and attended by 
forty of her ladies, she submitted to the rite, and another great festival was held. 
Never had the like been known, for besides adding this wealthy island to the 
crown of Spain, Magellan had converted its entire population to the faith. 

Emboldened by his splendid success, he determined that this should be but 
the beginning of his conquests; that as Columbus had added a world to Spain, 
so would he; nor would he stop till all the islands which surrounded him on 
every hand should admit his authority. A man of resolute purpose and prompt 
action, to conceive was to carry into execution. He persuaded the King of 
Sebu that as he was now a Christian all the neighboring islands ought to be 
subject to him, and offered to help him conquer them. The proposition was 
favorably considered by the King, who, although conversion to Christianity had 
not induced him to dispense with his idols in spite of the remonstrances of 
Magellan, evidently thought himself enough of a Christian to govern the neigh¬ 
boring islands if they could be conquered. The Admiral had little confidence 
in the religious professions of the dusky monarch, but thinking he might be 
used as a convenient tool, determined to undertake the task of subjugating the 
surrounding islands and conciliating them under one rule. 

A BATTLE WITH THE NATIVES. 

Messengers were therefore sent to the island of Matan, which was in sight, 
requiring its king to submit and pay tribute to Magellan and the King of Sebu, 
who had formerly been his vassal. He refused, whereupon Magellan entered 
at once upon an intended career of conquest by arming sixty of his men, and 
with a large force of friendly Indians proceeded to Matan to make an attack. 
Confident of the superiority of his men and arms, he requested his savage 
allies to remain in their canoes and witness with what ease the Spaniards could 
overcome an enemy. The water was shallow, and the boats were compelled to 
remain two bow shots from the shore. Magellan with forty-two Spaniards 
landed about three hours before daylight, and sent messengers to the people of 
Matan, desiring that they reconsider their refusal to submit, otherwise they 
should learn how Spanish lances and bullets could wound. A fierce reply 


262 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


came back, and as soon as day broke the Spaniards beheld a strange spectacle. 
As far as the eye could reach up the beach, from the seashore to the jungle 
of the interior, a solid mass of footmen presented itself to their gaze. A 
forest of lances waved as the savage warriors danced and shouted, and ere the 
battle began the air was filled with flying arrows and javelins. 

HORRIBLE BUT HEROIC DEATH OF MAGELLAN. 

Singing, dancing and shouting, waving their shields and feathery banners 
in the air, the savages advanced to the attack, two thousand five hundred strong. 
Like a wave of the sea they rolled upon and around the little group of Spaniards 
on the beach. Bravely the whites resisted ; they fired again and again, but their 
powder was bad, and the balls did not penetrate the shields of dry hide. 
Finding themselves unhurt even after repeated discharges of the Spanish fire¬ 
arms, the Indians, grown bolder, fell on the Spaniards with lance, arrow and 
club. Armor was no protection, for the Indians perceiving they could not wound 
the bodies of their foes struck at their legs and arms. With heroic valor the 
Spaniards resisted, but by sheer force of numbers were slowly pressed into the 
water. Back to back, the Spanish kept up the battle, no longer for conquest, but 
for life. In the front rank stood the Admiral in his white armor and gilded 
helmet blazing in the sun, a conspicuous mark for hostile missiles. A hundred 
lances were levelled at him; but he withstood them all, until at last an Indian 
from behind struck a javelin deep into his sword-arm, while another in front 
wounded him in the face with a lance. Magellan’s arm fell helpless and at the 
same time a tall savage with a coronet of feathers struck a terrific blow on the 
Admiral’s leg. The brave Magellan sank down, still fighting; a dozen savages 
threw themselves on him, and yet they could not overcome him before he had 
killed several of his foes. Deserted by his men, overwhelmed by the foes, he 
kept up the hopeless struggle; but the end came when a savage, with face 
painted red, struck the old soldier on the head with a huge club, crushing helmet 
and skull, and the gallant captain met a hero’s death. 

TREACHERY OF THE ISLANDERS. 

Magellan’s panic-stricken companions fled to their boats, leaving eight of 
their number and four friendly Indians dead in the water. Escaping to their 
ships, they at once suspended all intercourse with the shore, fearing lest the 
influence of the battle on the people of Sebu should be unfavorable. They had 
good reason for this precaution. Twenty-four hours had not elapsed before 
Magellan’s slave, an East Indian whom he had brought with him from a pre¬ 
vious voyage to the east, a man who had acted as his interpreter, deserting to 
Sebu informed the King that the Spaniards meant to subjugate his people. The 
natives of Sebu took^ the alarm, made peace with the Matan islanders, and both 
joined their forces against the Spaniards. The latter, without a leader, without 
a plan, were greatly at a loss, but understanding the necessity of discipline and 
leadership, they elected Duarte Barbosa admiral in place of Magellan, and Juan 
Serrano as captain of the flag-ship. The incompetence of the new commanders 


HEROIC DEATH OF MAGELLAN 



( 263 ) 












































































































































































































264 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


was the next day made apparent. Invited by the King of Sebu to a banquet, 
they went with twenty-four men to attend the festivities. Less than an hour 
after they had landed, the people on the ships heard a great commotion, followed 
by sounds of lamentation on the beach. Apprehending that their companions 
were in danger, they drew the ships closely to the shore and fired with carro- 
nades at the village; but scarcely had the bombardment begun when they 
beheld Serrano distracted and led to the shore a prisoner in the hands of the 
Indians. Loudly he begged them to discontinue firing, assuring them that 
further hostilities would result in his own destruction. The men on the ships 
called to know what had become of his companions and Serrano answered that, 
save the interpreter, they were all dead. Loudly he prayed to be ransomed, 
for the Indians had detained him in the hope that with a vast sum the sur¬ 
viving Spaniards would reward his captors; but in vain. The sailors were 
afraid to go themselves on shore, and declined to trust the Indians to approach 
the ship, and although Serrano prayed God to witness that his blood was on 
their heads, they made sail at once, stood out to sea, and left the unfortunate 
man to his fate. Thus thirty-two men were lost in two days, and there being 
not enough left to man the three ships, it was decided to burn the Concepcion 
after placing her stores and men in the Trinidad and Victoria, and thus the 
flotilla was reduced to two. 

STORIES OF INCONCEIVABLE WEALTH. 

Away sailed the fleet again, from island to island, everywhere finding some¬ 
thing new. Believing all they heard, and hearing far more than they saw, the 
Spaniards found that part of the world full of wonders. In the pages of their 
narratives they recorded stories of clove-trees fed on dead bodies, of cinnamon 
produced by magic from human bones; of nutmegs dug up from caves of the 
sea ; of savages with ears so large that they slept on one and used the other 
for a coverlet; of cities, the houses of which were of gold; of islands where 
diamonds were so common that they were in nowise esteemed; of nations, the 
men of which grew young again every century; of kings so terrible that their 
subjects could not stand the sight of their eyes, but fell dead at the glance of 
majesty ; of islands where turtles were larger than ships, of others where there 
were talking birds. They visited Borneo, where they were well received, great 
honor being shown them by the King, and finally, after twenty-six months and 
twenty-eight days, arrived at the Moluccas, where they heard the unwelcome 
intelligence that a Portuguese fleet of seven war-ships had sailed from Europe 
a year before for the purpose of apprehending them. The Portuguese considered 
this part of the earth their own peculiar possessions, on account of the explora¬ 
tions of Vasco da Gama more than twenty years before. Directly they 
learned that Magellan had sailed west for the purpose of reaching the East 
Indies, they fitted out a fleet of men-of-war, and started it the other way, ex¬ 
pecting that if he should escape the dangers of the unknown seas, they would 
be able to capture him and his vessels immediately on their arrival in the east. 




^.U.Tj 


COPYRIGHT 1891, 


The Procession in honor of Magellan’s^ 


mm 

FmH 





^^7 MW/< 







V / ^ y 1 

liR' liVi wtt rrlfStu 

wyf slf'i 



igsggs^. • * ||8|SW 

t ] 

(2l /^SsTfl 

pgOS 

Iff /MSij 

fly F/.vl| 





























1 


fi : 


vll 

am!<SKi« 

te4p»B5Si 

in 


iPM 

•N<.v 

J1I 

* f ' w ■ 

m 

Bpk 


wsgM 




jjjHflgl 

gi 


w| 

1 < 


j 


1 


Si 



HISTORICAL PUB. CO., PHILA., PA., U. S. A. 


<PEDITION IN QUEST OF UNKNOWN LANDS 




















































UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


265 


FEAR AND FAMINE DO DREADFUL EXECUTION. 

The unhappy men of Magellan’s fleet were panic-stricken on learning this 
intelligence and hastened to depart, not knowing when the Portuguese fleet 
might arrive. As it proved, there was no reason for their apprehension, for the 
hostile squadron was detained at Aden; but the Spaniards in ignorance of this 



MURDER OF SERRANO. 


fact made all possible haste to depart. To add to their embarrassment, the 
Trinidad sprung a leak which in spite of every effort made by the crew 
and by native assistants whose skill in diving was brought into requisition to 
discover the cause, could not be stopped. Afraid to remain until the ship could 
be put in complete order, they decided to abandon the Triuidad and return in 































266 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


the Victoria. But not all were willing to attempt the home voyage. Some 
dreaded the perils of the main, others feared the prowling Portuguese fleet, and 
preferred to take up a residence in the Moluccas rather than risk the possibility 
of starvation, or a violent death from the Portuguese. With sixty men, however, 
Christians and Indians, the Victoria started on her home voyage. But dangers 
loomed up directly, and the adverse monsoon prevented their progress; for nine 
weeks they beat up and down the sea in an effort to double the Cape of Good Hope ; 
for two months longer they made slow progress up the Atlantic; famine again 
stared them in the face; twenty of them died and were committed to the deep. 
On the Cape Verde Islands, where they called to get food and water, thirteen were 
•captured by the Portuguese; when a boat was sent on shore for assistance, and 
seeing galleys put off evidently with hostile intentions, the remainder on board 
set sail at once. News was speedily sent from the Cape Verde Islands to Portu¬ 
gal that the last surviving vessel of Magellan’s squadron was coming home, 
and must, if possible, be captured before its arrival. Scores of ships put out 
from the ports and prowled up and down the sea, sentinels of the waters, to 
apprehend the famine-stricken ship, but by good fortune it escaped them all. 

THE SURVIVORS ARE WELCOMED BACK TO SPAIN. 

Monday, September 8, 1522, was another great day in Seville, for in the 
morning a storm-battered ship came to anchor near the mole, and eighteen rag¬ 
ged, famished wretches, so strange that their own friends did not know them, 
staggered from its deck into waiting boats and were received by friendly hands. 
One shattered, leaky vessel was all that remained of the magnificent fleet which 
three years before sailed from Seville to compass the earth. But they had done 
it and all honor was their due. Again the cannon thundered from the Alcazar; 
again the bells rang in the steeples; the astounding groups filled the 
streets; evergreen arches were reared in the squares; organs pealed in the 
churches, choirs sang Te Deunis for those who had come back from the 
dead. But in the groups there was one who did not cheer as the procession 
of haggard sailors marched up the street from the wharf to the cathedral. This 
was the elegant Don Juan Cartagena, and at sight of him the sailors for the 
first time learned what had become of the San Antonio. It was explained to 
them that after leaving Magellan in the strait, the San Antonio had deserted 
the expedition, returned to Port St. Julian, taken up Don Juan and his priest, 
gone back to Spain and reported Magellan lost. But when the true story of 
the desertion got abroad, Don Juan, to escape the anger of his compatriots, left 
the country and the only gloomy face was withdrawn from the astounding mul¬ 
titudes, and all Spain went wild over the eighteen heroes who had sailed around 
the world. 

Since his time thousands have followed in Magellan’s track, but high on 
the historical roll of honor will ever stand the name of the gallant admiral 
who perished in his undertaking, and of the eighteen who lived to tell of his 
triumph and bring back news of his death. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

HISTORY OF THE BUCCANEERS. 

OMEWHERE in one of his books, Darwin ad¬ 
vances a curious idea as to the connection 
between the number of old maids in a neigh¬ 
borhood and the abundance of the clover 
crop. He argues that where old maids are 
numerous cats are also plentiful; where there 
are cats the field-mice are kept in subjection, 
and the humble-bees, whose nests are de¬ 
stroyed by the rodents, are allowed to in¬ 
crease ; and humble-bees alone, from the 
extreme length of their probosces, can fer¬ 
tilize the clover blossoms. It is going a 
long way to look for a reason for abundant 
clover, but no further than to go to the reli¬ 
gious wars of the sixteenth century to find the origin of the Buccaneers. It is 
nevertheless true that the religious wars created throughout Europe an intense 
hatred of Spain and of everything Spanish; only occasion was necessary to 
develop this hatred in a practical manner on the other side of the world, and 
the occasion was not long lacking. 

A hundred years more were sufficient for the Spaniards to exhaust the gold 
mines of Central America and the islands, so far as in their wasteful way 
they cared to work them. No chapter of history is so black as that of the 
conquest of America; no page so dark as that of the Spanish treatment of the 
natives in the gold mines. The Indians were plundered so long as they had 
anything worth taking, and when no more was to be found were tortured to 
compel them to disclose the whereabouts of additional treasure. Chiefs of honor 
and dignity were treated with shameless brutality; a great native king of 
Mexico had live coals applied to his feet to make him divulge the hiding 
places of treasures of which he knew nothing. Priests were put to the rack 
that the hidden wealth of their temples might be discovered, and many of the 
wise and great of America thus miserably perished. When the nobles were so 
treated, no consideration could be expected for the common people who were 
carried off by thousands and compelled to work in the mines, where, unaccus¬ 
tomed to the labor or to the severity of the treatment, they died in multitudes. 

In several of the Caribbean Islands Indian laborers at length became so scarce 
that the merciless Spaniards were compelled to look elsewhere for slaves^ 

^267) 



















268 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 



DRIVING WILD CATTLE IN HAYTI. 

the little islands in the south, and gave the Indians to understand that by visiting 
Hispaniola and receiving baptism and instruction in the doctrine of Christianity, 
they would be allowed to become Christians, whereupon the Spaniards would receive 
them as brethren. Thousands of them were thus induced to come, only to find they 
had been cruelly tricked. This device not bearing repetition, numbers were there¬ 
after kidnapped and brought by force. In less than one hundred years, Hayti, from 
a hundred thousand population was reduced to a few thousand, who skulked in the 
mountains like hunted wild beasts. 

The place of human beings was taken by vast herds of cattle, the descendants 
of a few animals first brought by the Spaniards and allowed to run wild on the 


Hunting parties accordingly were organized to search through the dense jungles 
of a tropical climate, among the crags and along the mountain ranges, and 
numbers of trembling wretches were thus apprehended and brought in. But 
the alarm was taken by the, timorous natives; they fled still further and dogs 
were employed to hunt them down. Many were torn to pieces by the savage 
brutes that were engaged not only to hunt the hapless captives, but to guard 
them when in chain gangs they went to and from their labor in the mines. 

As the Indians of Hispaniola became almost extinct, resort was had to the 
neighboring islands. Spanish agents in Spanish ships went to a large number of 









UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


2(j 9 






interior plains of the island. Obliged to make the most of their scanty resources, 
the natives had become skillful in preserving the flesh of cattle, and by drying it 
with artificial heat had made what was called boucan , or jerked beef, an article of food 
which was highly esteemed as food for sailors, since its peculiar preservation gave it 
great value on a long sea-voyage. The term “ Buccaneer” is derived from the Carib 
word boucan , signifying barbacued meat. The Carribbean Indians, who were great 
flesh-eaters, dried their meats, whether of cattle, fish, or humans (for they were can¬ 
nibals), by laying it on a wooden grate over a slow fire of coals, a process by which 
the meat became cured without salt. This method was so effective that the early 
Portuguese and Spanish settlers soon applied it for the curing of great quantities 
which they sold for ships’ stores. Hunters, especially in Hispaniola, directly 
began the killing of wild cattle for this purpose and soon came to be called by the 
Caribs boucans , which was presently changed to the softer term Buccaneer. 

The word “ Filibuster ” had its origin in a mispronunciation by the French of 
the term “Freebooter” and was applied long before that of Buccaneer , just as cruis¬ 
ing on piratical undertakings preceded the hunting and curing of meats, as described. 
An occasional English, French or Dutch vessel came along the coast, and to these 
straggling callers the boucan was sold for food, and the opportunity was seized to 
smuggle out of the country vast quantities of hides, for which the strangers were 
willing to pay far higher prices than could be extracted from the monopolizing Span¬ 
iards. A regular trade thus sprang up, which was extremely lucrative, and finally 
ships bound to the south called regularly for boucan, hides and water. The pos¬ 
sible profits of such commerce were quickly appreciated by the French, English and 
Dutch settlers in Hayti, who established themselves in the trade of curing beef and 
selling hides. The Spaniards having secured a monopoly of trade and commerce 
from Mexico to Cape Horn and from Cape Horn to California, every seaman of the 
other countries seeking profitable relations with the natives of this vast region 
entertained a natural hatred for everything Spanish. The times then became much 
rougher through the rivalry that succeeded than ever they have been since; every 
sailor was also a soldier, a fighting man almost by occupation, and as ready with 
his weapons as with his ropes. 


SAILORS TURNED SOLDIERS. 

Finding large gains in the illicit butcher trade of Hayti, sailors from several 
countries took to it as a pleasant relief from the monotony of shipboard life, and 
thus, while their ships waited, large bands were formed, equally ready either to 
hunt the wild cattle or to fight the Spanish who attempted to interfere with the 
chase. These hunters, soldiers, sailors, with no family ties, bound to their brethren 
by a common hatred of the Spanish, developed into Buccaneer bands, which for one 
hundred years were at once the inspiration and terror of the Spanish seas. While 
the men were of every nationality, the majority were English, French and Dutch, 
who in the wars of the continent had learned to regard the Spanish as the deadly 
foe of all. 

In 1625, hardy adventurers in the Spanish main received a semi-official recog- 




270 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


nition from both the English and the French governments. The naval power 
of Spain had been on the decline ever since the defeat of the Invincible Armada 
in 1588, and both the English and French deemed the season propitious to 
curtail the power of Spain in the New World. A joint expedition was sent 
out, composed of equal numbers of English and French colonists, and the Island 
of St. Christopher was fixed upon as suitable for a new settlement. At first 
the methods of the colonists differed little from those of the Spaniards, for 
finding the island inhabited by Caribs the colonists set upon the unlucky 
savages, killed some and expelled the rest. A colony was thus auspiciously 
begun, but no sooner had buildings been erected and commerce fairly established 
than the settlers fell out among themselves. The English and French could 
not agree any better in the New than in the Old World, and in four years the 
ill-assorted colonists were almost at open war. In the meantime the Spanish 
were not idle, but indignant at the presumption of other nations in trying to 
effect a settlement in territory which they had been accustomed to regard as their 
own, a fleet of thirty-nine large vessels was fitted out and sent from Spain to 
drive away the Dutch from the towns which they had built in Brazil and other 
parts of South America, and incidentally to clear away the English and 
French from the West Indies. Intelligence of the intentions of the Spanish 
reached France, and with a powerful fleet the famous de Cusac sailed to protect 
St. Christopher. He arrived in the spring of 1629, and finding the English 
and French colonists embroiled, took the part of his countrymen, sunk several 
English vessels which lay in the roads, and then “ having reduced the English 
to reason,” and hearing nothing of the Spanish fleet, supposing that it had gone 
on to Brazil, he departed to cruise in the Gulf of Mexico and to attack any 
Spanish settlements that seemed to be unarmed and helpless. 

CAPTURE OF THE COLONISTS, WHO SOON AFTER RE-ESTABLISH THEMSELVES. 

His vessels had scarcely disappeared when sails were seen in the offing and 
the stately Spanish fleet dropped anchor before the island. The colonists were 
in despair. It was already known that war* had been declared against Spain by 
England, France and Holland, and the settlers expected no mercy. Had they 
been united they might have arrayed twelve hundred men against the fleet and 
made a stout resistance, but divided they had no hope. The French crowded 
into their vessels and escaped, but there were not enough ships for all, since the 
destruction of the crafts by de Cusac ; not even all the French could go, and 
those who were compelled to remain surrendered to the Spanish Admiral, Don 
Frederick de Toledo. 

Don Frederick was embarrassed by the situation. He would willingly have 
massacred them to the last man, but could scarcely afford to do so since they 
were a colony under regular government authority. He could not leave a gar¬ 
rison, for he needed every man to operate against the Dutch in Brazil; nor 
could he tell when he might meet de Cusac’s fleet which he knew to be in 
American waters. So he ordered all the vessels that could be found to be 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


271 



loaded with the colonists; some, particularly the more able bodied of the 
English, he took on board his own fleet, and the remainder were paroled on 
their promise to leave the island at the earliest possible moment. This done, 
he directed the ships of the colonists to put off to sea, after which he himself 
started for the Brazilian coast. But no sooner had the Spanish fleet left the 

West Indies than back came 
the colonists, and joined by 
others from Hayti took np 
their old quarters, and resolv¬ 
ing not again to be so easily 
driven out they began to look 
around for a permanent hab¬ 
itation. To the north-east of 
Hispaniola is the small island 
of Tortugas which the Span¬ 
ish had fortified and where 
they had placed a garrison. 
Considering this place favor¬ 
able for their purpose, and 
from its isolation tolerably se¬ 
cure against sudden attack, 
the colonists summoned all 
their forces, and being joined 
by all the cattle hunters of 
Hayti, surprised the Spanish 
post at Tortuga, massacred 
the garrison and occupied the 
island. 

FORMATION OF A COMMUNISTIC 
SETTLEMENT. 

In haste they threw up 
rude fortifications, and made 
ready in case the Spanish fleet 
returned that way, to give 
it a warm reception. They 
were poorly provided with can¬ 
non, but had fire-arms in plen¬ 
ty. They erected a mole in 
the bay, loaded vessels with stone and placed them in such a position that 
on a few hours’ notice the bay could be blocked up by sinking a stone-laden 
ship at the entrance to the harbor. Here they deemed themselves safe, and as 
the ships of all nations called at Tortuga for stores and hides, the colonists 
began to grow rich. 


THE CAPTURE OF TORTUGA. 
















272 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 



While these things were going on the English and French, under differ¬ 
ent leaders and at different times, made settlements in many other islands 
bordering the Caribbean Sea. One by one these colonies grew in size and of 
importance, and as they did so were taken under home protection. Governors 
were sent out from London and Paris, and as they came they brought with 
them favorites, and grants dispossessing the original colonists, many of whom 
not obtaining the justice for 
which they asked, went to 
Tortuga. Here an ideal gov¬ 
ernment of freebooters pre¬ 
vailed. The theory of their 
society was in several points 
communistic; meats, vegeta¬ 
bles, fruits, in fact all neces¬ 
saries were held in common. 

Money and other valuables 
were separate possessions, 
but so honest were the Tor¬ 
tuga people in reference to 
each other that there was no 
lock, bar or bolt to be found 
in the whole island, while 
a man who stole from his fel¬ 
lows was judged worthy of 
the severest punishment. 

MASSACRE OF THE COLONISTS BY 
SPANIARDS. 

So the colony grew and 
prospered, and might have 
been known in history as the 
beginning of a peaceful con¬ 
quest by the English and 
French of the West Indies,, 
had it not been for the jeal¬ 
ousy of the Spanish. They 
could not tolerate the idea of 
a foreign settlement under 
their noses, and after long 
watching for an opportunity, at last, in 1638, during a great hunting season, 
when most of the Tortuga men were absent chasing cattle on the mainland, 
the Spanish of San Domingo fitted out an expedition against the island col¬ 
onists. As they expected, few men were found on the island, and these un¬ 
prepared to receive them. The garrison was therefore captured, but not without 


DEFENCE OF THE COI.ONISTS. 




UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


273 


resistance, and cruelly put to the sword; a number of Englishmen who sur¬ 
rendered on the promise that they would be allowed to return to England, were 
hung to the nearest trees; the factories and drying-houses of the settlement 
were burned, and, confident that no more colonization would be attempted in 
that quarter, the victorious Spaniards not thinking it necessary even to leave a 
garrison at Tortuga, sailed back to San Domingo. 

Scarcely had they gone, however, than the survivors of the colonists came 
out of their hiding places in Tortuga, the hunting parties returned from Hayti, 
and three hundred strong they assembled, determined to renew their settlement. 
For the first time, they elected a commander and began a large system of de¬ 
fensive works to protect themselves against future inroads of the Spanish. In 
revenge for what they and their companions had suffered, they also began to 
assume the offensive, and even *to make attacks on such Spanish vessels as 
came near or passed close by their island. No solitary Spanish ship was safe. 
In their open boats the freebooters would chase a vessel for days, would 
clamber up the sides, and take the ship in spite of the heartiest resistance. 
They even extended their operations to the Spanish settlements in the neigh¬ 
boring islands, and carried on with them a warfare that was as unceasing as it 
was savage. 

THE COLONISTS TURN PIRATES. 

By a curious national movement, sometimes observable in history, a division 
was made apparent between the English and the French, who constituted the 
majority of the Tortuga freebooters. The power of France was steadily growing 
in the West Indies, and the French governors supported the Buccaneers of their 
own nation in claims to land and islands where they had settled. The English 
governors of the West Indies, while willing, were not able to do the same for 
the people of their own nationality, because of the disputes between Charles and 
his parliament, a dissension soon to be followed by civil war in England. This 
difference in circumstances led to a division in business, if such an expression 
is allowable, between the English and the French. The Englishmen not being 
supported in their claims to land, took to sea and became cruisers; the French, 
on the other hand, remained cattle hunters; the former were proud to apply 
to themselves the name Buccaneers ; the latter called themselves, and were called 
by others, Filibusters. Marvellously their numbers increased; scarcely a ship 
touched at Tortuga or in its neighborhood without contributing to the warlike 
society one or more discontented sailors; deserters from the European armies 
found security among the Buccaneers; a previous course of crime was no objec¬ 
tion to the reception of a fresh accession to their ranks, for no certificate of moral 
character was required. Adventurers from every country came in swarms, and 
oddly enough, a curious commentary on the morals of the time is found in the 
fact that one of their leaders originally joined the band because he was in debt, 
and desired to raise the funds to liquidate his obligations. The three hundred 
adventurers soon became as many thousands, and all were inspired by a common 
18 “ * 



274 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


hatred of the Spanish. More than one ship was fitted out in England and 
France by private means, for the purpose of preying on Spanish commerce 
in the American seas, and in a few years after the destruction of the settlement 
by the Spanish, a powerful fleet had its headquarters at Tortuga, and was ready 
at a day’s notice to sail in any direction in quest of booty. 

BUCCANEERS ALWAYS READY FOR A FIGHT. 

It was at this time in the power of either the English or the French gov¬ 
ernment to make a regular community of the Buccaneers, but neither saw fit to 
do so, for both found it a decided advantage to encourage these bands of free¬ 
booters since they could be employed to do any desperate service that might 
be required, and at any time their acts could be disavowed should it become 
necessary or politic to do so. They constituted a body of ill-trained, but brave 
and reliable auxiliaries, whose value as soldiers was enhanced by the possession 
of a large fleet of vessels, small in size indeed, but well armed and managed 
with a degree of skill in seamanship that at times seemed almost miraculous. Both 
fleet and men were ready to be hired by any nation that chanced at the moment 
to be at war with Spain, though the Buccaneers would fight anybody, if victory 
promised a good booty. Their organization was self-sustaining and the nation 
that employed them was not compelled in time of peace to keep up a large 
force for which there was no employment, for as soon as the temporary engage¬ 
ment was ended, the Buccaneers were as much at home as before and resumed 
with no less alacrity the business of fighting Spaniards on their own account. 
They were thus employed at different times by the English, the French, the 
Dutch and the Portuguese, to all of whom they rendered good service in every 
part of the Spanish main. 

As soon as an engagement had been concluded with any power, the flag 
of that nation was at once hoisted by all the Buccaneer ships. Commissions 
were issued to their commanders, and to all intents and purposes they were 
in the service of the hostile power, and .if taken were entitled to all the priv¬ 
ileges and immunities of prisoners of war. But Buccaneers were seldom .taken, 
for rarely did they give, and still more rarely did they ask, quarters; their 
war with Spain was to the death. 






















CHAPTER XXIV. 


FORTIFICATION OF THE ROBBER'S NEST. 

E Buccaneers having developed into a regular 
organization, one of their first cares was to 
provide a home-station that should be im¬ 
pregnable to any force that could be brought 
against it. To this end they set to work to 
fortify their rocky isle, so as to make it abso¬ 
lutely impregnable to attack. Among their 
numbers were now many professional soldiers, 
men who had fought for and against Crom¬ 
well, who had followed Turenne to victory, 
and had studied the fortresses planned by 
Vaughan. The assistance of engineers was 
therefore called in and Tortuga was put in a 
condition of defense with a professional skill 
and completeness that made all previous at¬ 
tempts at fortification trifles by comparison, and 
bid fair to set at defiance all efforts of any hostile force, however strong, to 
effect a capture. 

The island lent itself with ease to the plan of defence. About twenty-five 
miles long by six in breadth, it is naturally defended on two sides by preci¬ 
pices high enough to prevent any attempt at scaling, and so abrupt in their 
descent, that for many miles not even the smallest wherry can find a shelf 
jutting into the sea where a landing can be effected. Any hostile efforts on 
these sides would be futile since a straggling party that might escape the giant 
breakers of the iron-bound coast and by herculean efforts climb the cliffs, 
would be unable to effect anything against the organized force of a body of 
freebooters. On the third side, Tortuga is naturally defended by a maze of 
reefs, shoals and quicksands, which the boldest navigator would not dare at¬ 
tempt to pass, and in which skill in seamanship would count for nothing. On 
the fourth is a large harbor, the only one in the island where a land-locked 
bay presents a beach so gradual, so sloping, that ships even of light draught 
must anchor at some distance from the land, and their crews can approach 
only in boats. The thousand isles of the Caribbean present no other spot so 
favorable as a home for outlaws, and here the robbers of the deep made their 
nest. Skilled engineers ran parallels, redoubts were thrown up on the enclos¬ 
ing points of land, heavy guns, captured from Spanish ships, were placed in 
position to command the entrance to the harbor, water batteries were erected 

(275) 



UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


276 


to prevent landing by boats, large magazines were constructed and filled with 
stores, a garrison was trained to perform the work of defence quickly and 
well, and a French admiral, who had sailed around the world and examined 
the fortresses of every land, pronounced the position impregnable. Now were 
the sea rovers no longer homeless, but with a great fleet, a strong fortress 
and constantly increasing numbers, they were absolute masters of the sea, and 
woe befel every merchant vessel that by incautiousness or accident came into 
the waters over which the Buccaneers kept such careful watch. 



RUINS OF TORTUGA. 


DESPERATE PROWLERS OF THE DEEP. 

The fleets of the pirates finally issued from the harbor of Tortuga, and 
being well provided with stores, set sail for the great water highways by which 
the Spanish galleons returned to Europe, laden with the spoils of the New 
World. The heavy Spanish vessels, unable to run away from the light ships 
of the freebooters, were captured by wholesale. Incredible were the spoils. From 
one vessel it is recorded that over three million dollars’ worth of gold and gems 
were taken to say nothing of silver, which the Buccaneers did not value, as 
being a thing of little worth and too common to be carried away. Alarmed at 








UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


277 



the success of the Buccaneers, the Spanish armed their vessels with artillery 
and provided fire-arms and cutlasses for the crews, but to no purpose, since 
resistance only exasperated the freebooters, and where it was sufficiently des¬ 
perate to be fatal to any of their number, they took a terrible revenge by 
making all their captives “ walk the plank.” Growing more bitter as the years 
passed on, and the enmity between themselves and the Spaniards always in¬ 
creasing, the pirates became more savage in the treatment of their prisoners. 
When a galleon was taken and the booty found on board was sufficient to pro¬ 
vide a handsome sum for each of the captors, the crew of the vessel was some¬ 
times allowed to depart, but woe to the captives when the treasure was deemed 


CUTTING THE HEADS OEE HIS CAPTIVES. 

inadequate for their ransom; they were sometimes stood in line on the deck 
of their vessel and shot, but more frequently were hanged in batches, the last 
survivors being compelled to be the executioners of their fellows. One noted 
Buccaneer, having taken a ship in which he found only a few thousand dollars, 
a miserable spoil for a man of his aspirations, ordered the crew below. They 
went, and after he had taken his station by the main hatchway, armed with a 
huge cutlass, they were ordered to come up, one at a time. The order was 
obeyed, and as each head appeared above the floor, the Buccaneer cut it off. 
Nor was any secret made of these atrocities; on the contrary they were 
paraded before the world, the Buccaneers boasting that they themselves were 





















278 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


the chosen instruments of Heaven to visit divine vengeance on the Spaniard 
in return for the horrible cruelties the latter had practised on the Indians. 
They seemed to be inspired by a wild desire to inflict on their enemies every 
conceivable kind of torture, and the records of their doings read like a chapter 
from the chronicles of so many demons. 

The Spanish Government finding it impossible for its ships to escape, 
adopted the policy of sending a fleet of men-of-war twice a year to protect 
the merchantmen, but even this plan was far from successful, since the Bucca¬ 
neers were grown so bold that they feared a man-of-war no more than a mer¬ 
chant vessel, and the Spaniards were become so timid that from terror of the 
Buccaneers’ name, it not infrequently happened the men-of-war would set sail 
and flee away, providing for their own safety and leaving the merchantmen 
they were sent to convoy a helpless prey to the dauntless pirates. 

RECKLESS BRAVERY OF THE BUCCANEERS. 

Nor was this timidity unjustified, for even during their early histoty the 
Buccaneers were absolutely without fear. While they were yet hunters, two 
of their number, a Frenchman and an Englishman, were surprised on the plains 
of Hayti by a party of fifty Spanish lancers all well mounted. The latter had 
sabres and lances, but no guns, while the two Buccaneers were armed with the 
best fire-arms that could then be bought for money. Taking their stand back 
to back, the two plucky men prepared for a desperate resistance. Summoned 
by the Spaniards to surrender, they answered that the first men who approached 
them would die. In vain the lancers argued the futility of resistance, the 
hunters had always but one answer, that they would kill the man who ap¬ 
proached them. The cowardly Spaniards hesitated. Brave enough when deal¬ 
ing with timid and unarmed Indians, they ‘ were powerless before these two 
undaunted men. Not one among their number was willing to take the risk, 
for they were morally certain, that even should they make a rush, however 
quickly it was done, two of their number would bite the dust. Having ex¬ 
hausted their powers of persuasion to no purpose, they began to move off, when 
suddenly both the Buccaneers raised their pieces to their shoulders at which 
the lancers became seized by a sudden panic, and putting spurs to their horses 
they galloped off at full speed frightened half to death at the fearless bearing 
of these two men. 

CROMWELL'S DEFEAT OF CHARLES I. 

While the affairs of the sea rovers were thus favorably progressing, events 
took place in Europe which brought the Buccaneers into yet greater national 
importance. The dissensions between Charles I and his Parliament had be¬ 
come too violent to be settled by amicable means, and after long negotiation, 
conducted on both sides with apparent sincerity but real duplicity, an appeal 
was had to arms. The civil war, inauspiciously begun at Edge Hill Moor, was 
ended at Naseby by the total defeat of the King, and Cromwell came into 
power as Lord Protector. No sooner was he established as the absolute rulei 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


279 



of Great Britain than he began an aggressive foreign policy to divert the at¬ 
tention of his people from the internal affairs of the country. While England 
was governed by the sword, her soldiers and sailors were winning glorious 
victories abroad. Blake carried the terror of the English name to regions where 
the power of England had before been scouted; and on land, the Ironsides 
startled Turenne by the stern shout of exultation with which the)’" advanced to 

the combat. It was the fixed 
purpose of Cromwell to hum¬ 
ble the power of Spain every¬ 
where, and to this end a large 
fleet under Admiral Penn was 
despatched to the waters of 
the New World, with instruc¬ 
tions to harass the Spaniards 
in every quarter and if pos¬ 
sible to conquer some island 
or country that might after¬ 
wards be used as a basis of 
future operations. 

THE ENGLISH DRIVEN FROM THEIR 
DESIGNS ON HAYTI. 

Arrived in the West In¬ 
dies, Penn formed the bold de¬ 
sign of conquering and annex 
ing to the British dominions 
the large and valuable island 
of Hayti and operations look¬ 
ing to this end were at once 
begun. The fleet proceeded 
along the coast, bombarded St. 
Domingo and other principal 
towns, and meeting with small 
resistance the English landed 
a large body of men and insti¬ 
tuted an effort to make a per¬ 
manent conquest. But though 
victorious on the sea, the at- 

ENGUSH PRISONERS IN THE HANDS OF THE HAYTIANS. teiliptS of the English OU 

land were not to meet with such glorious success. The Spaniards, beaten 
from their towns, took refuge in the’ forests, and being pursued to their 
retreats, they formed ambuscades in which many of the English were de¬ 
stroyed ; they resorted to every means known to annoy the invaders and were 
aided by the Haytians, whose cruel customs rival those of the most savage In- 












280 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


dians; they placed poisoned thorns in the line of march; into the wells, springs 
and streams they threw leaves of a shrub so deadly in its effect that 
the English who drank never spoke again. Many thus miserably perished, 
while others died of the torrid heat, others of the fevers which in that quarter 
of the globe prevail all the year round. Discouraged by the difficulties of the 
undertaking, Penn finally recalled his men from a task which seemed almost 
hopeless and resolved to look elsewhere for laurels. 

Directing his fleet to rendezvous at Tortuga, he made careful enquiries of 
the Buccaneer leader as to the Spanish settlements in the Antilles, and deter¬ 
mined to make his next effort on Jamaica. Being assured, however, that the 
strength of the fortifications and numbers of the garrison w’ere more than a 
match for his own force, he engaged the Buccaneer fleet and force to co-operate 
with his own, and together the two fleets sailed from Tortuga on a voyage of 
conquest. It was the largest fleet that had ever manceuvered in that part of 
the world against the Spaniards, consisting as it did of twenty-two English 
ships of the line and nearly thirty Buccaneer crafts, large and small. 

A CONQUEST WITHOUT SPOILS. 

All displayed the English flag, for during the expedition at least they 
were in the service of the British government. The effort was a signal success. 
Jamaica was taken, but to the rovers the result was a sore disappointment, for 
although they did most of the fighting and to their able assistance was due 
the credit of the conquest, they were not permitted to plunder, the Admiral 
commanding that private property should be respected. While this was strictly 
in accordance with the laws of civilized. warfare, it was so signally in contradic¬ 
tion with all Buccaneer usage and tradition that it caused the most intense 
dissatisfaction. The rovers regarded Spaniards as beyond the bonds of civili¬ 
zation, and mindful of what their enemies had done to them, considered them¬ 
selves quite justified not only in robbing a Spaniard of his money, but also 
in torturing him to make him tell where it was should he have taken the 
precaution to hide it. Not to be allowed to carry out their favorite practices 
was an unexpected hardship, but Penn was inflexible, the plundering propensities 
of his roguish assistants were restrained and he gave them to understand that 
he had employed them to fight, not to rob, and furthermore, hinted in plain 
language that any of them caught stealing would be summarily shot. This 
was not to be borne. In disgust and indignation the freebooters took their pay 
and sailed off, resolving to have nothing more to do with an English Admiral, 
but thenceforth to carry on business strictly on their own account. 

The Jamaica conquest therefore formed an important epoch in the history 
of the Buccaneers, since it taught them their strength and the value of unity 
as an organization. From the year 1665, that of the Jamaica expedition, may 
be dated the rise of the leaders who carried the terror of the Buccaneer arms 
over every part of Central America and made the Spaniards tremble at the 
very mention of their name. 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


281 


PETER THE GREAT. 

There were many men among them whose names are noted in histone but 
in Buccaneer literature the chief qualification for prominence was to be more 
of a desperado than the worst of the band. Such was the doubtful distinction 
of a French pirate called, after the great Russian Czar, Peter the Great, who, 
originally a common sailor, acquired among these hardy cutthroats a reputation 



buccaneers capturing a gaeeeon. 


such as was enjoyed by but few of their number. It was Peter the Great who 
after cruising in vain for weeks without so much as a sign of a Spanish sail, 
suddenly found both provisions and water exhausted and himself and com¬ 
panions in the utmost straits. At this moment the sails of a great ship 
appeared on the horizon and in her direction Peter the Great turned his 
prow. It was a Spanish galleon of the largest size, with over 300 men on 

























282 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


* 

board. Peter could not muster twenty on bis little • schooner, but he held a 
council of war and laid the case before his men in a brief speech. “ If we 
try to take this ship we may succeed and then again we may all be killed. If 
we do not take the ship we shall all perish of thirst, and I, for one, would 
rather die fighting than by inches under a burning sun.” “So would we,” 
shouted his crew, and the little schooner in which’ he sailed was soon rapidly 
approaching the great galleon. In astonishment the Spaniards on board con¬ 
templated the tiny craft which was approaching them, and the captain, in derision, 
ordered the mate to “ get out the crane and hoist the prize on board.” 

SCUTTLING HIS SHIP AND CAPTURING A GALLEON. 

But the pirates needed no such assistance. Coming alongside, they sprang, 
cutlass in hand, up the side and fell like demons on the Spanish crew. In five 
minutes they were masters of the ship, the Spaniards had escaped destruction by 
surrender, and the galleon was headed for Tortuga. Looking round for the vessel 
in which the pirates had come, the captain of the captured ship was dumfounded 
when nothing was to be seen. “Where’s your boat?” he asked of Peter. “She 
had gone down. We had no further use for her and scuttled her before we came 
on board.” But Peter the Great did not remain many years with the rovers. 
Growing tired of his life, he one day, while most of the Buccaneers were absent 
on an expedition, loaded a ship with booty obtained in several years of pillage, com¬ 
municated his purpose to some other Frenchmen as tired of buccaneering as him¬ 
self, took them on board and started for France. The Buccaneer fleet returned 
a few days after his departure, and angry at his desertion and the more so because 
it was believed he had not been particular as to whose booty he had taken when 
loading, but had indiscriminately piled on board all he could lay his hands on, the 
swindled'pirates put off to sea in a hurry to overtake and make an example of him. 
They chased him half across the Atlantic, and came in sight of his sails one day, 
but the Great Peter having no mind to associate longer with such rogues, crowded 
on all the canvas he could carry, and with a brisk breeze soon left them far in 
the rear. He got safely to France, which was more than he deserved, and there he 
invested .his money, bought a title, founded a noble family, several members of 
which a hundred years later were guillotined during the French Revolution, while 
the money that had come to him by robbery was speedily dissipated, and Peter’s 
descendants were left as poor as Peter himself was when he ran away from Dieppe 
to become a pirate. 





CHAPTER XXV. 


BARTHOLOMEW THE EXTERMINATOR. 

ORE desperate than any of his predecessors was the 
ocean scourge known as Bartholomew the Exter¬ 
minator. Who he was, or where he came from, 
nobody knew, for he pops up all of a sudden in 
pirate history as the captain of a Buccaneer ship 
with four three-pounder guns and about thirty 
men, prowling about over the seas ready to prey 
on anything Spanish. 

Bartholomew’s most desperate undertaking as 
a pirate was the attacking of a big galleon that 
had a crew of seventy sailors, all well armed, 
besides many passengers, equally well provided 
to resist any effort at capture. Coming alongside 
the galleon, the order to board was given, but the 
captain was ready to receive them, and his men 
recogniziug the nature of their adversary, deter¬ 
mined to fight for their lives. And they did fight, so lustily too, that Barthol¬ 
omew and his desperadoes were driven back to their own ship which some of 
them were only able to reach by swimming, for several were forced into the 
water. 

Thus discomfitted, the Buccaneer hauled off, and instead of again trying 
to board, contented himself with keeping up a fire of musketry and cannon on 
the doomed vessel. The Spaniard had twenty guns, but every man that 
attempted to work them was shot through the head. The captain of the Span¬ 
ish ship at last tried to hoist sail and get away, but the sailors who climbed 
the ropes were shot and fell on the deck. For five long hours the battle was 
kept up at long range, and until the Buccaneers again came to close quarters, 
when they found that their fire had been so deadly that there were not enough 
men left alive on the Spaniard to make resistance. 

But his triumph was short lived. Proud of his capture, he deserted his 
own ship and took his crew on the galleon, and then paraded up and down the 
coast of Cuba to display his prize. It was a piece of ill-timed braggadocio, for 
running into a Cuban port for water, three Spanish men-of-war suddenly ap¬ 
peared at the mouth of the harbor. The Buccaneers made a stout fight, but 
their ship was beaten to pieces and most of the crew killed. Bartholomew was 
taken, after his ammunition was all gone and his cutlass broken, and as the 

‘(283) 








284 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


Spaniards did not know him, he hoped for a chance to escape. But the fleet 
ran into Campeachy, where Bartholomew had been once or twice in the exer¬ 
cise of his profession, and he was at once recognized by scores of people who 
were indebted to him for the loss of their valuables and were delighted beyond 
expression at the unexpected opportunity of quickly paying off old scores. 



A HAIR-BREADTH ESCAPE. 

His capture was an event of national importance; the day appointed for his 
execution was proclaimed a holiday. Fearing their captive, even in his chains, 
the Spaniards gave 
him no notice of his 
approaching fate, but 
one day his jailer 
dropped a hint of the 
truth, by pointing 
with his finger out 
of the cabin window 
to a neighboring hill 
on the shore where, 
most clearly defined 
against the sky, Bar¬ 
tholomew saw a new¬ 
ly-erected gibbet. “A 
word to the wise is 
sufficient,” and, in 
some matters, Bar¬ 
tholomew* was one of 
the wisest. That 
night, by a desperate 
effort the pirate chief 
got one hand free 
from his shackles, 
called the sentinel, 
and as soon as the 
man incautiously ap¬ 
proached within his 

, , . . . A FIGHT FOR LIFE. 

reach, struck him so 

terrible a blow on the-temple that he fell dead. Seizing a couple of small wine- 
casks, he took one under each arm, and letting himself quietly out of the cabin 
window swam to shore, a distance of more than a mile. 

But with his escape from the ship and the sharks of the harbor his 
troubles were only begun. He knew that with the first dawn the Spaniards 
and their bloodhounds would be on his track. How to elude them he knew 
not, but remembering that these animals were sometimes thrown off the scent 












UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


285 


by running water, be found his way to the nearest stream, waded up it for 
several miles, then concealed himself at a point where the overhanging and 
moss-grown roots of a great tree presented a canopy above a pool of water 
not quite three feet deep. Here he took up his station, and for four days re¬ 
mained in this hiding place, half submerged in the water, while each day he 
could hear in the forest around his covert the baying of the hounds and 
encouraging shouts of the Spaniards eager for his life. Once the searching 
party passed within a hundred yards of his tree and he gave himself up for 
lost, but the hounds failed to take the scent; on another occasion two Span¬ 
iards and a negro sat on the roots above his head and discussed what they 
would do with the reward should they be so fortunate as to capture the fugi¬ 
tive. At last, however, the sounds of pursuit died away and he ventured forth 
from his place of concealment. 

FOREST DANGERS ENCOUNTERED. 

His condition was desperate. He was unarmed, half naked, and starving; 
in the midst of a hostile country, he dared not venture to ask for aid, not even 
to allow himself to be seen by a human being, for the irons, which he had 
not been able to get off his wrist or ankle, proclaimed his condition as an 
escaped fugitive, and he had learned from the conversation he overheard that 
the reward on his head was a princely fortune, which men would risk their 
lives to win. To add to the difficulties of his position, in every stream alli¬ 
gators abounded, every thicket was infested with ferocious animals, venomous 
reptiles and insects, while the ground was covered with thorns and he was 
without shoes. 

For several days after his escape he could journey only by night, and 
his sufferings from hunger were frightful. He ate such roots or herbs as he 
could dig from the ground with his fingers; and to such an extremity of 
hunger was he reduced that a half putrid shell-fish he found on the shore 
seemed, as he afterward said, “to be the most delicious morsel I had ever tasted.” 
He tore away a portion of his clothing and made a protection for his feet, 
which did not, however, prevent their becoming so swollen and cut with the thorns 
that with great difficulty could he take a step. When he came to a strearii 
he endeavored to frighten away the alligators by making a noisy splashing in 
the water and then swam quickly across, trusting to good fortune to escape 
their all-devouring jaws. He had no knife, the Spaniards having been afraid 
to trust him with one, but finding a few embers, where a party of hunters 

had left a fire, he kindled them to a blaze, and utilized the flames to prepare, 

by burning and charring, a branch to answer as a club. It proved his salva¬ 
tion that night, for on climbing into a tree, his usual resting place, he was 
attacked by a jaguar which he had the good fortune to kill with a single 

blow of his weapon. With his teeth he tore the skin from the carcass, in 

which he encased his feet, thus providing a much more substantial protection 
than the rags which he had been wearing. The flesh of the animal made a 


286 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 



repast such as he had not enjoyed since his escape, and refreshed by animal 
food he said, “ Once more I felt like I could fight a dozen Spaniards.” 

BARTHOLOMEW FINDS SAFETY AT LAST. 

Fourteen days of incredible dangers and privations were passed by Bar¬ 
tholomew in his unparalleled journey through a tropical wilderness, when about 
noon of the fifteenth day as, almost overpowered by the heat and his suffer¬ 
ings, he w r as making his way through a bit of thorny jungle he heard the 
sound of hammers some distance ahead. Cautiously he approached the edge of 
the thicket and peeped out. Before him lay a stretch of level beach, on 


A BATTLE WITH A JAGUAR. 

which one or two tents had been set up; on a knoll some distance away stood 
a sentinel, scanning the forest for any sign of approaching enemies; a boat, 
pulled by a half dozen men with red shirts, was approaching the shore, and half 
a mile from the land was a Buccaneer ship, careened over on her side. The 
carpenters were caulking her timbers, and it was the sound of their busy 
hammers which first caught his ear. 

The nearest pirates stood aghast at the figure which came out of the 
bushes and limped across the sand. Save a piece of cloth around the waist, 
and some torn pieces of jaguar skin on his feet, the man was naked ; on one 
wrist and on the opposite ankle were the irons which he had borne from 











UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


287 


Campeachy; his frame was gaunt with hunger, and covered with cuts and 
scars from the thorns, while his hair and beard were matted with dirt and 
grease, giving him a truly fearful appearance. In one hand Bartholomew bore 
his great black club, and in the other, as a last protection against starvation, 
a leg of the jaguar which, he had killed. Almost delirious with suffering, 
Bartholomew could scarcely tell who he was, and the pirates had equal 
difficulty in believing that this was their former leader, whom they believed 
dead, but who had made his way alone and without arms through a hundred 
miles of the worst jungle in Central America. 

BARTHOLOMEW CAPTURES THE SHIP FROM WHICH HE ESCAPED. 

Joyfully received, he soon recuperated from his privations and proposed 
to his companions no less a project than the capture of the ship from which 
he had so narrowly escaped. A hundred volunteers accompanied him, and 
leaving their vessel some miles from Campeachy and out of sight, the free¬ 
booters proceeded, at dead of night, in open boats into the harbor. The ves¬ 
sel from which Bartholomew had fled was lying at anchor in the bay. Silently 
the boats came along side, but not so quietly but that they were espied and 
challenged by the watchman. In a low voice the Buccaneers explained in 
Spanish that they were bringing smuggled goods on board, and that the sen¬ 
tinel should have a fair share. 

His cupidity overcoming his caution, the sailor on watch bade the 
strangers approach, and a dozen Buccaneers, with bundles and bales began to 
climb the side. In a moment the sentinel was stabbed, the ropes were manned, 
and the crew awoke to find the main deck held by five-score of cutthroats armed 
to the teeth, aud the ship on her way out of the harbor, while Bartholomew 
pleasantly introduced himself to them in a little speech before throwing them 
overboard, and sent his quondam jailer back in a small boat to give his com¬ 
pliments to the people of the town, and to suggest that the reward for his 
capture be paid to the widows and orphans of the sailors of the captured ship. 

OTHER CRUEL AND DESPERATE PIRATES. 

And there were many like Bartholomew; Dumont, who with one compan¬ 
ion captured a Spanish ship, and compelled the crew to sail it for him to Tor¬ 
tuga ; and E’Olonnais, who used in his pleasant moments to hang up captured 
Spaniards by their beards to make them tell where their money was; and 
Smith, who, single-handed, chased the population of a Cuban town into the 
woods ; and Davis, who made a specialty of tying down his captives so they 
could not stir hand or foot, and then tickling them to death; and Otto the 
Dutchman, who, with one stroke of his ten-pound cutlass, cut a Spaniard exactly 
in half; and Pierson, a Norwegian, who, with a sabre, would shave off the ears 
of his prisoners close to the head and made a boast that he had cut off over 
seven hundred pairs of ears without once touching the victims’ shoulders ; and 
Matt, the Italian, who made a collection of nearly a thousand great toes, of 
which he had deprived his captives, and alwaj^s became angry if the suspicion 



RAID OF THE BUCCANEERS 
























































































































































































































































































































UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


289 




was expressed that any one captive contributed more than one great toe. 
“ They are none of them mates,” he would roar, laying his hand on the cut¬ 
lass that always swung at his side, and all argument ceased at this point. And 
there was Monbars, also called an Exterminator, who when a boy contracted 
so intense a hatred of the Spaniards from reading of their conquests in the 
New World, that in a school-play he fell foul of a companion who personated 
a Spaniard and tried to kill him, and was only prevented from doing so by a 
bailiff who chanced to be a witness of the boy’s ferocity. Such a beginning 
boded ill for the Spaniards, and Monbars deserved his nickname as much as did 
Bartholomew. Nor must “ Cross-Eyed John ” be forgotten, who could shoot as 
well as if both eyes were good, and who, when his ship was boarded and taken 
by an overwhelming force of the enemy, went below and blew up the magazine 
rather than surrender. 

Brave captains make men brave, and it was under the leadership of such 
men that the Buccaneers learned their trade; it was the reputation of such 
men that attracted adventurers and outlaws from every land; people saw only 
the brilliant courage and forgot the brutal ferocity which underlay the charac¬ 
ters of the bandit chief; over the life of a Buccaneer, to the youth of that day, 
the rosy light of romance was shed; men did not remember that every coin 
gained by the outlaws was the price of blood. It was under such leaders, too, 
that the Buccaneers learned their own strength and the value of united action, 
and from scattered bands they united themselves into great armies, and concen¬ 
trated the prowling pirate ships into fleets of irresistible might and prowess. 



19 












CHAPTER XXVI. 


THE BUCCANEERS SEEK TO ACQUIRE LANDED POSSESSIONS. 



EHORD them now, these Buccaneers, with a 
great fleet of upwards of fifty sail, with several 
thousand men, desperadoes all, each bearded 
like a pard and armed to the teeth, with 
carbine slung across his back, two brace of 
pistols in his belt, and heavy cutlass 
swinging at his side, cutting loose from 
all governments and determined to conquer 
for themselves. No longer are they satisfied 
with the plunder of Spanish ships. They are 
resolved to carry their exploits still further. 
M 7 At Jamaica they have learned that the}" can 
V fight on land as well as on sea, and are not 
slow to improve by the knowledge thus gained. 
Shortly after the Jamaica expedition, there was a grand 
rendezvous at Tortuga, a mass meeting of cut-throats and 
leading Buccaneers to set forth the necessity of unity, the need of discipline 
and of a commander. Ballots were taken, and one Mansvelt, a Dutchman, was 
almost unanimously elected their commander-in-chief. At once he prepared for 
a considerable exploit; nothing less than an attempt to found colonies and es¬ 
tablish fortifications on the mainland. Before this time, L’Olonnais and 
Michel Le Basque had taken Maracaibo and Gibraltar in the Gulf of 
Venezuela, with a plunder of four hundred thousand crowns. But their expe¬ 
ditions were simple raids, designed merely to gratify the passing needs of the 
moment. The purpose of Mansvelt looked much further into the future, being 
a design for conquest and permanent occupancy. 


AMBITIONS OF MANSVELT THE BOLD. 

All the forces of the Buccaneers were summoned, and with fifteen vessels 
and nine hundred men Mansvelt left Tortuga on his conquering expedition. 
He started for the mainland, designing first to subject to Buccaneer control 
what territory he could on the continent, and then to found permanent colonies 
or settlements. There was much deliberation as to the proper point to attack, 
for it was desirable that some region should be chosen where the booty was 
likely to be abundant, and in the second place that the country should have 
natural advantages that would commend it to permanent occupation. The choice 

(290) 






UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


291 


of the majority fell on Costa Rica, which was therefore selected as the objec¬ 
tive point. 

It being important to have a base of operations, for the invasion was to be 
conducted in true militar}^ style, the Island of St. Catherine near the coast was 
attacked in order that it might be used as a rendezvous, and as it was at no 
great distance from Costa Rica it could be made a convenient place from 
which operations against the Spanish might be conducted. The Spanish garri¬ 
son of the place made a defense, but the overwhelming numbers of the Bucca¬ 
neers prevailed and soon drove the Spaniards to the mainland. Leaving a party 
of men at St. Catherine’s to guard the island against Spanish attack, Mansvelt 
sailed up the coast seeking for a proper point on which to make a descent, but 
everywhere the inhabitants were oh their guard and presented so formidable a 
front that at no place did the Buccaneer commander venture to land his men. 
Unable to accomplish anything he returned to St. Catherine’s and was agreeably 
surprised to find that his deputy during his absence had erected strong fortifica¬ 
tions, so strong in fact as to render the place practically impregnable, since a 
hostile fleet, owing to the nature of the harbor, was compelled to lie beyond 
cannon-shot and could only attack the island with boats. 

Resolved to hold so favorable a station, Mansvelt went to Jamaica for assist¬ 
ance for his projected raid on the mainland, hoping to secure enough English 
troops and vessels to enable him to land at any point he pleased in Costa Rica. 
But the governor, while willing enough to keep the Buccaneers in Jamaica, 
.was not favorable to their scheme of independence. A Buccaneer state in or 
near the Caribbean Sea might in time prove a formidable menace to English 
power; so he refused assistance and carried his opposition to the extent of de¬ 
clining to allow Mansvelt to recruit his forces from British volunteers for the 
proposed raid on the Spanish territory. Sorely disappointed the pirate chief 
returned to Tortuga to summon all the Buccaneers to assist in his expedition, 
but on the way to the robber stronghold he died of a fever contracted on the 
coast of Costa Rica and was succeeded in the command by one of the most re¬ 
markable men of that or any other age. 

A SKETCH OF HENRY MORGAN THE SEA BANDIT. 

Henry Morgan, in some respects the greatest of robber chiefs, when a boy, 
inspired by tales he heard and read of the doings of the Buccaneers, ran away 
from home to seek his fortune on the seas. When a youth of fourteen he 
joined the Buccaneers at Tortuga in the capacity of an engage. This at that 
time was the best recognized method of obtaining a standing among the free¬ 
booters. A youth seeking to join their bands must first act as the servant of 
a Buccaneer in good standing. The applicant was enlisted as a servant, and 
did a servant’s work. The hardest labor fell to his lot, for the Buccaneer be¬ 
lieved in severe training. The work of the engage was incessant, and his 
treatment brutal. On one occasion an engag£ remonstrated with his master at 
being required to do Sunday labor, and recited for that worthy the command- 


292 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


ment: “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.” “Six days shalt thou 
labor, and do all thy work.” With a fierce oath and a blow, the outlaw turned 
upon his servant, “ but I say unto you six days shalt thou labor and skin 
steers, and on the seventh shalt thou carry the skins to the shore.” 

A MAN OF DESTINY. 

The engage served three years as a prentice pirate, and the only hope he 
had of earlier emancipation was by becoming a good shot. In the pirate crews 
a marksman was always valuable, and an apprentice pirate by proving his 
skill with rifle or pistol was soon freed from his bondage and admitted to the 
Buccaneer band with a servant of his own. Morgan was not long a servant, 
for so great was his dexterity with all kinds of arms that in a few months he 
emancipated himself and soon demonstrated his ability for leadership. When a 
Spanish ship was to be boarded, Morgan was the first to mount, with a cutlass 
between his teeth; when a cannon was to be fired, Morgan stood at the breech 
and took aim; when any service, however, desperate was to be performed, Mor¬ 
gan was the first to volunteer. He seemed to bear a charmed life. Time and 
again had he been struck by musket balls, but never more than slightly 
wounded, while he passed unscathed through a thousand perils. Before he was 
twenty years old, he was a petty officer in one of the best ships owned by the 
Buccaneers; at twenty-five he had a ship of his own; at thirty he was second 
in command to Mansvelt, and at the death of that leader became the supreme 
head of the pirate organization. He was a natural leader of men, and the des¬ 
peradoes under his command looked up to him, in spite of his youth, for advice 
and counsel in all desperate straits. A man of great projects, he at once be¬ 
gan to put into execution the schemes of conquest already commenced by his 
predecessor. 

ACTIVE PREPARATIONS FOR WAR. 

For some weeks after the death of Mansvelt, the headquarters at Tortuga 
presented a busy scene. Councils of war were continually held as the chiefs 
discussed various points along the Spanish coast; maps were consulted, slaves 
and captives were questioned as to the wealth, trade, population, fortifications 
and available strength of the different towns under consideration. At first, the 
general opinion was favorable to a continuation of Mansvelt’s policy against 
Costa Rica, but to this Morgan was opposed, for he wished to do something 
that should bear the stamp of individuality and in a different line from what 
had before been attempted; so he was not sorry to learn by the arrival of a 
ship with a few half starved men, that the Spanish had cut off the retreat of 
the most of the Buccaneer force at St. Catherine’s, and had retaken the island, 
only a few escaping in a small vessel. Further attempts in this direction were 
therefore useless, and Morgan turned his attention to Cuba. He formed the 
bold design of attacking Havana and sent spies to examine the forts, but these 
were found too strong for any force the freebooters could bring against them, 
and the Spaniards being on the alert—for in some way intelligence had got 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


293 


abroad that a great design was under consideration—the projected attack on 
the Cuban capital was abandoned. Other points were then discussed, and after 
obtaining the fullest possible information, Puerto del Principe, an inland city 
midway the island of Cuba, was selected for the raid. 

Collecting all his forces, Morgan sailed from Tortuga, and one Saturday 
afternoon in August, 1667, the Buccaneer fleet arrived off Nuevitas, the port 
of Puerto del Principe. All the population were enjoying a holiday, but at 
sight of the twelve pirate ships in the harbor, the merriment was suspended. 
An hour later Nuevitas was deserted, its inhabitants had fled. Before night 
seven hundred pirates embarked on the beach and camped in the abandoned 
houses, but before their fires had begun to blaze, pale riders on horses weary 
with forty-five miles of mountain road, hurried through the gates of Puerto, 
bearing intelligence of the landing of the pirate forces. The rich and populous 
city was in a panic. “ The pirates are coming,” was the dread intelligence 
that passed from month to mouth. There was no rest that night; the men 
hurried to and fro preparing weapons and ammunition. Women packed their 
valuables on the backs of horses and mules for transportation to the mountains. 
All night long the exodus continued; by morning the city was deserted. 
Women, children and slaves had dispersed in every direction except those of 
Nuevitas; the men were marching toward the coast to repel the intruders, for 
Puerto was not to be won without a struggle. 

The Spanish forces marched twenty miles toward the coast, and in a nar¬ 
row defile in the mountains they halted, cut down trees, formed an abattis, 
threw up entrenchments, and waited for the pirates. Towards evening the head 
of the invading force appeared in the defile and was received with a lively fusi- 
lade. The Buccaneers halted ; Morgan reconnoitred the situation of the defending 
force and found it too strong to be taken by direct attack. There was not a 
moment to be lost. As soon as night fell the pirate army left the road, made a 
long detour, and under the guidance of Indians who knew the country, crossed 
the mountains to the north of the Spaniards, climbing up and down the rocks, 
stumbling through the ravines, running against trees in the darkness, but still 
pressing onward, the whole body of the invaders left their enemies in the rear, 
and by dawn appeared on the plain before Puerto. 

PUERTO DEL PRINCIPE TAKEN. 

The Spaniards missed them, and sent out scouts, who returned with in¬ 
telligence of their whereabouts, and the Spanish force was put in motion, 
cavalry going first with movements slow and cautious, but still advancing so 
rapidly that the infantry were left in the rear. Scarcely had the Spanish horse¬ 
men emerged from the forest into the open ground when they were confronted 
by the Buccaneer army drawn up in the shape of a' crescent, on the edge of a 
j ungle impenetrable by cavalry. The Spanish commander did not hesitate ; the 
trumpets sounded a charge, and the cavalry threw themselves on the serried 
ranks of the Buccaneers. The latter stood firm ; there was not a word nor a 














REPULSE OF THE CAVALRY CHARGE. 














































































































































































































































UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


295 


shot till the Spanish horsemen advanced within fifty feet; then came a thun¬ 
derous report, and a hundred horsemen reeled and fell. The remainder turned 
and galloped away. At a distance beyond gunshot they rallied and again charged, 
and then again, but to no purpose, for that deadly fire was not to be resisted, 
and after an hour of fruitless effort the remaining Spaniards sought safety in 
flight. By this time the infantry had come up, but finding the cavalry defeated, 
they retired \yithin the city leaving the Buccaneers masters of the plain. 

Puerto was not well fortified, for the city lay so far inland that there was 
no expectation of hostile attack. The Spaniardsj however, made the best of 
the situation, and with extemporized fortifications fought so bravely that the 
freebooters began to despair. Night came on; the city was not taken, and every 
moment diminished the chances of Morgan and increased the hope of the Span¬ 
iards, for from their camp on the plain the freebooters could see signal fires 
blazing from every mountain top and the sentinels reported that re-enforcements 
were constantly arriving for the Spaniards in the beleaguered city. Something 
must be done, so in the darkness of night some barrels of gunpowder were 
rolled to one of the gates. A fuse was attached, the gate blown down by the 
explosion, the Buccaneers made a rush, and at last entrance was effected into 
the city. But the Spaniards were not beaten. They fought from house to house 
and contested every foot of ground. Every roof was a barricade, every corner 
concealed a foe, every window sent forth a bullet, and many Buccaneers per¬ 
ished in the street fight. Success was still doubtful, but Morgan set the city on 
fire, and the defenders driven out by the flames, finally retired leaving the ruins 
of Puerto to the pirates. 

TORTURING THE PRISONERS. 

Many prisoners having been taken, the process of forcing money from them 
now began, and all manner of torture was resorted to in order to accomplish 
the desired result. Some of the miserable captives were hung by the feet, others 
strung up by their hands; some were roasted to compel them to divulge their 
hidden treasures. Some of them exhibited marvellous powers of endurance be¬ 
fore giving up their money, for one old Hidalgo after declaring that he had no 
money, was tortured in the peculiar way known as “ swimming on air.” Four 
ropes were procured, and the wretched man was suspended by one attached to 
each member from four upright posts. A heavy weight was placed on his body, 
and a pirate stood by, keeping the suspended prisoner in constant motion. No 
conceivable torture could be worse than this, and yet the old Spaniard stood it 
for four hours before acknowledging that he had five hundred pieces hidden un¬ 
der the pavement of his house. The pirates were confident that he had a great 
deal more, so after this money was procured they singed his beard and burned 
off his hair in an effort to get the remainder. When he vowed he had no 
more, they began on his teeth, took them out one by one until all within easy 
reach were gone. Still he protested his poverty. By order of a pirate officer 
his ears were twisted off by hand, but all in vain, and when the freebooters 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


296 


concluded him incorrigible they determined to beat him to death and very nearly 
succeeded before he admitted the whereabouts of his funds, and being released, 
guided them to a spot where he had concealed fifty thousand dollars. Such 
scenes as this, and many far worse were witnessed in Puerto during the few days of 
Morgan’s occupation. Finally, the ferocious bandit announced that unless a very 
large sum was paid for the ransom of all the captives, they would be taken to 
Jamaica and sold as slaves. The wretched prisoners agreed to get all they 
could, and sent four of their number to raise the funds. These special messen¬ 
gers soon returned with the intelligence that the ransom money would be forth¬ 
coming in two weeks. This length of time was granted, and the pirates gave 



TORTURING PRISONERS. 


themselves up to feasting, drunkenness and debauchery-. Two days later a 
messenger was sent to the city authorities with letters: “ Keep the pirates as 
long as you can,” wrote the governor, “I am coming with large forces.” At 
this alarming intelligence Morgan collected all his men and plunder, ordered the 
inhabitants to furnish five hundred beeves in lieu of the promised money-, and 
these being delivered, marched back to Nuevitas, where he embarked and sailed 
to Tortuga to divide the spoils with his men, but a dispute occurred over an 
unfair division of the spoils, which led to a withdrawal of the French, wlio 
thereafter operated on their own account. 

















CHAPTER XXVII. 


ATTACK ON PUERTO BELLO. 



ROM this time the Buccaneers of the Spanish 
main were in two bands, the English and 
Dutch constituting one and the French the 
other. The exploits of the latter were 
sufficiently notable to justify a chapter to 
themselves. It is enough for the present 
to follow the steps of Morgan. 

Not discouraged by the defection of 
the French, Morgan at once began prepara¬ 
tions for a new foray. Remembering the 
easy success of his brethren at Maracaibo 
and Gibraltar, he determined to make a venture 
on the mainland. About forty-two miles from the 
Gulf of Darien stood the then rich little city of 
Puerto Bello. It was not large, having less than 
one thousand population, for the coast was unhealthy, 
and the merchants and factors who there transacted their business seldom 
remained more than a few weeks at a time. 

But considering its numbers, no city of its size on the continent con¬ 
tained greater wealth, for almost every inhabitant was a man of large means. 
Being the seat of a considerable commerce, it was strongly fortified by two 
defences, each of which was half castle and half fort, built in the curious 
transition style prevalent at the time when cross-bows were going out and 
artillery had not fairly come in. For that age, the fortifications were strong, 
and a garrison of three hundred Spanish soldiers was always on duty. This 
place Morgan determined to attack, and overcame the hesitation of his associates 
by the prospect of an abundant booty. Setting sail from Tortuga, the Bucca¬ 
neer fleet arrived at the mouth of a river some miles away from Puerto Bello, 
late one afternoon. 

The force was disembarked, and skirmishers were thrown out to capture 
all persons whom they saw, in order that the coming of the expedition might 
be secret. This duty was well done. The ships passed up the river a few 
miles, where they were left with a strong guard, while Morgan made his way 
across the country in the direction of the city. The movement was well 
planned and executed; by daybreak the Spanish pickets were in the hands of 
the pirates and the whole force was waiting the coming of dawn to attack the 
city. With daylight there came to the astonished garrison of the smaller fort 

( 297 ) 




298 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


a summons to surrender. Upon their refusal the castle was taken by storm, 
the soldiers massacred, and the officers placed in a room over the magazine 
which was then blown up. The city was now at the mercy of the invaders, 
but the garrison and population had taken refuge in the main fort, having 
strong hopes that the Buccaneers would give themselves up to pillage; and 
might be attacked and routed by a sortie when they were dispersed in search 
of plunder. 

A THRILLING EPISODE. 

Contrary to the expectation of the Spanish, not a storehouse nor residence 
was molested, but instead, the Buccaneers rushed to the convents, churches 



HEROIC DEFENCE BV THE GOVERNOR. 

and monasteries, from which they dragged out the monks, priests, and nuns 
who had remained, trusting that the sanctity of their profession would preserve 
them from insult, and the astonished garrison beheld long lines of monks and 
nuns marched away under guard. What did it mean ? Nobody could con¬ 
jecture. They found out, however, the next day, when the second summons to 
surrender had been refused, for they saw long files of nuns and priests, bearing 
ladders on their shoulders, come across the grassy slope in front of the castle 



























































MORGAN ORDERING HIS PRISONERS TO SCALE THE WALLS OF PUERTO BELLO. 




( 299 ) 



























































































































































































































































































































UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


800 


walls, followed by the serried ranks of the Buccaneers. Some of these unhappy 
persons, thus forced against their will to perform a service so distasteful, 
besought the governor to spare their lives and not fire, but one heroic old 
priest, even while bearing a ladder oil his shoulder, shouted, “ Do your duty, 
governor,” and the firing at once began. 

Many of those who wore the religious habit were killed at the first 
discharge from the fort, but the rest, knowing that it was certain death to 
return and having been promised their lives in case of obedience, rushed 
forward and placed the ladders against the walls, and after a severe hand-to- 
hand fight, the Spaniards in the castle surrendered, only to be taken out and 
shot. But the governor refused to yield, and died like a soldier after killing 
three Buccaneers with his own hand. In the security brought by the capture 
of the citadel, the Buccaneers gave themselves up to three weeks of horrible 
riot and debauchery. 

AN EXCHANGE OF COURTESIES. 

In the meantime, the governor of Panama had heard the news, and hastily 
gathering a force rushed to the rescue. But the Buccaneers received notice of 
his approach in time to lay an ambuscade for his advance guard, which they 
cut in pieces, and when the survivors fell back on the main body the Spanish 
army was seized by a panic and ran away pell-mell to a safe position among 
the hills. Astonished that so few men should be able to accomplish such 
results, the Panama governor sent a polite message to Morgan, requesting to 
know what arms his followers carried. The bandit returned him a pistol and 
a handful of bullets, intimating that the governor might keep them until he 
should call for them. His Excellency returned the compliment by presenting 
the pirate with an emerald ring and intimating that he need not call. Morgan 
took the ring, gathered together his booty, consisting of more than three 
hundred thousand dollars in coin and goods of incredible value and went back 
to Tortuga where a division was effected, the leader as usual getting the lion’s 
share, and then set off for Jamaica to revel in the spoils. 

It seems amazing that the English government should tolerate the pres¬ 
ence of these outlaws in Jamaica, but not only did they tolerate but even en¬ 
couraged them. They brought money to the colonies, and business was very 
brisk for some time after a shipload of pirates came in from a successful cruise. 
Besides money, they brought goods, frequently of immense value, which, ob¬ 
tained by robbery, were sold at merely a nominal price. The profit on a cargo 
of merchandise purchased in this way was sometimes as much as one thousand 
per cent., and the merchants and dealers were glad to see a fleet of pirates come 
into Kingston Harbor after a successful razzia. But English assistance went 
further than this, for the government gave indirect aid financially to these piratical 
enterprises, and received a hundred-fold in return for such advances, therefore, after 
the money from the Puerto Bello expedition was all gone Morgan planned another 
raid, and an English man-of-war in the harbor was ordered to co-operate with him. 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


301 



DESTRUCTIVE EXPLOSION OF A MAN-OF-WAR. 

It is to the credit of the English name that the order was not carried out and 

that the vessel was sent on another service, but the loss of the expected assist¬ 

ance determined Morgan to seize a French man-of-war which was then off 
Kingston. A plausible pretext was found in the fact that some time before 
the Frenchmen on a cruise had taken a quantity of provisions from an Eng¬ 
lish vessel without paying for them. An invitation was extended to the French 
officers to dine with Morgan on board his ship. The Frenchmen came, were 
politely received, but while at dinner were greatly shocked to observe a num¬ 
ber of sturdy pirates, armed to the teeth, come in, and to be informed by 


BLOWING UP the SHIP. 

Morgan that they might no longer consider themselves as his guests, but as his 
prisoners. The French were speedily set on shore, and a Buccaneer crew 
placed on board the man-of-war thus captured, which added a thirty-six gun 
vessel to the pirate fleet. But not for long, for during that night, while the 
crew on board the newly captured vessel were celebrating their victory with a 
grand carousal, the magazine blew up, and of three hundred and fifty Buccan¬ 
eers on the ship at the time, scarcely twenty escaped. 

AN ACT OF INCREDIBLE BRAVERY. 

Even with his force weakened by this loss, Morgan started for the conti¬ 
nent with eight ships and five hundred men, and disembarked his troops on 











































































302 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


the shores of Maracaibo Bay under a heavy fire from the Spanish fort. Mov¬ 
ing up to attack the fortress, the Buccaneers found it deserted. The shouting 
pirates crowded into the fort, exulted over their capture and jeering at the 
cowardice of the Spaniards, when suddenly Morgan discovered a lighted fuse 
leading to the magazine. In another moment the entire band would bave been 
blown in the air, but at great personal peril to himself the leader snatched 
the fuse from the barrel of powder in which it ended, and stamped out the 
fire with his heel. Moving from the fort up to the town, they found it deserted, 
for after the failure of the magazine to * explode the townspeople and soldiers 
ran away to the woods. Scouting parties were at once organized to bring in 
the fugitives ; every day new captives were taken and led in chains together 
like felons. Many ingenious modes of torture were devised to compel the mis¬ 
erable wretches to tell where they had concealed their goods, and after all the 
money possible had in this way been extracted from the people of Maracaibo, 
Morgan proceeded to Gibraltar, not far away, where the same process was re¬ 
peated with its populace. 

’All this took time; news of the Buccaneer raids spread rapidly up and 
down the coast, and upon Morgan’s return to the bay, to his dismay he dis¬ 
covered that the fort had been re-captured by the Spaniards, and that a fleet 
of three large vessels stood off the mouth of the harbor. Twenty-five or thirty 
guns had been landed and placed in advantageous positions around the fort, 
which was thus rendered impregnable to attack. The Spanish fleet was too 
strong to be successfully met in open fight; the Spaniards considered the ban¬ 
dit trapped, and the Admiral sent word to him to surrender in two days, or 
expect the most direful consequences. 

A MASTERLY PIECE OF STRATEGY. 

. With his weak force Morgan had no chances in open combat with the 
Spaniards, and dread necessity therefore forced him to resort to stratagem. Seizing 
a vessel, which he found in the harbor, he filled it with powder and all sorts of 
combustibles, cut port holes and placed therein the ends of logs painted black 
to represent guns, put a large number of coats and hats on sticks just inside 
the bulwarks to convey the impression that the ship was well manned, set her 
sails, and with only a pilot and one sailor sent her in advance against the 
Spanish fleet, he with his other vessels following at some distance. The 
Spaniards were deceived by the trick, and attacked the leading vessel with 
great fury. The pilot and the solitary sailor got into a skiff and pulled back 
to Morgan’s fleet, while the Spanish ships closed round the deserted vessel. 
The combustibles on the fire-ship had been ignited before she was finally de¬ 
serted, and the tricked Spaniards, approaching very close in their determina¬ 
tion to board, were astounded by a series of tremendous explosions which 
threw burning brands far and wide, and set fire even to the rigging of their 
vessels. Confounded by this sudden and unexpected result and thrown into 
confusion by the cannonade which Morgan’s vessels now began, they hastily 
retired, and left the Buccaneers master of the situation. 


• ' 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


* 303 


ESCAPE OF THE FREEBOOTERS. 

The Spanish vessels fell back behind the fort, and Morgan was apparently 
no better off than before, for to pass the fortress would, for his fleet, be almost 
certain destruction. His native shrewdness, however, was again called into 
play. Coming to anchor in plain sight of the fort, but beyond cannon-shot, 
he sent out boats from all his vessels, loaded with men who stood up so as to 
be plainly visible while being rowed to the shore. The boats put into a point 
of land where they were concealed by some bushes from the view of the 
Spaniards in the fort. Thus, out of sight, they all lay down in the boats 
and were taken back to the ships, rounding the vessels to the opposite side from 
that seen by the Spaniards. This manoeuvre was repeated a dozen times in ' 



DISASTROUS EXPLOSION OF THE MASKED VESSEE. 


the course of the morning, and the Spaniards, as Morgan intended they should, 
gained the impression that the whole Buccaneer force was being put ashore to 
attack the fort from the land side. In that direction they were weak, and 
suddenly, cognizant of the fact, hurriedly moved a large part of their artillery 
over to the land side and prepared to resist an assault. The attack was made 
on land, however, for after the guns were removed from the sea-wall the 
Buccaneer ships weighed anchor and passed down within two hundred yards 
of the fort before the astonished Spaniards could bring back the guns to fire 
upon them, and a furious bombardment soon breached the walls, through which 
a force of Buccaneers directly poured in a resistless assault that forced a speedy 
capitulation. 
























304 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


The fame of these two exploits soon spread throughout the world and at¬ 
tracted sea-faring men and desperadoes from every quarter, and in a few months 
the pirate leader found himself the absolute master of forty vessels and over 
three thousand men. At this time there were prospects of a peace between 
England and Spain; the negotiations indeed were actually going on and Mor¬ 
gan determined to forestall the treaty by some exploit greater than any the 
Buccaneers had previously attempted. 

THE PANAMA EXPEDITION. 

At this time Panama was the largest, the greatest, the richest and most 
famous city on the continent. One of the first Spanish settlements, located on 
a spacious bay, with one of the finest harbors in the world, separated from the 
Caribbean by an isthmus which from its mountains, forests, thickets, rocks and 
deadly climate was almost impassable, the city had always been deemed safe from 
hostile attack. There was immense plunder to be gained and the fancied security 
of the city added to the expectations of the Buccaneers that more would be 
realized by an expedition to Panama than against any other city in the west¬ 
ern world. Morgan’s attention being turned in that direction there was no 
time to be lost, for he must sail quickly in order that his ships might have 
the protection of the English flag, a guardianship which they would not enjoy 
should peace be declared. So leaving three ships at Tortuga, he sailed with 
thirty-seven vessels, manned with twenty-two hundred men, to St. Catherine’s which, 
as already narrated, had been retaken by the Spaniards. Seeing this overwhelming 
force in his front the Spanish governor came to terms; he and Morgan ex¬ 
changed some shots with blank cartridges, the Spanish forces marched out and 
the Buccaneers took possession. No sooner was St. Catherine’s occupied than four 
hundred men were sent to take the castle at the mouth of the Chagres river 
that it might serve as a base of operations on the mainland. 

This fortress was situated on the top of a high hill with the river at its 
front and an almost impassable jungle and forest to the rear. The garrison 
deemed themselves so secure that when the pirates approached them they re¬ 
viled the freebooters in the coarsest language and opening a heavy fire drove 
them back. But the Spaniards did not know the character of the men with 
whom they had to deal. The next morning the Buccaneers landed and began 
to make their way through the forest. 

A tropical forest, to one who has never seen it, is a revelation. Overhead 
are the interlacing branches of giant trees whose foliage conceals vast 
numbers of monkeys and parrots, whose ceaseless chattering attends the 
traveller at every step; underfoot a dense growth of ferns and mosses makes 
a pitfall to betray the incautious foot. On every hand are bushes and shrub¬ 
bery, thickets and undergrowth ; from every branch depends a mass of vines, 
which, crossing, intertwining, interlacing, renders progress almost impossible. 
The machete is in constant use to clear a path, and even the road thus made 
in a few days fills up so as to be indistinguishable from the original forest. 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


305 



Without skilled guides the traveller is certain to be lost, for men have been 
known to wander for days almost in sight of their own dwellings. 

STORMING THE FORTRESS. 

Into such a jungle the freebooters plunged. Starting at a point less 
than two miles from the castle, they were all day making their way to it, and 
when in sight the musketry and artillery of the Spanish force compelled 
them immediately again to seek its seclusion. Several assaults were in vain; 


night came on, and an effort was*, 
made to set the palisades of the for¬ 
tification on fire. This also failed„ 
and the discomfitted buccaneers 
an act or extraordinary heroism. would have been signally defeated' 

had it not been for an incident ' altogether unprecedented and unexpected. 
Among the besieged were several cross-bowmen, one of whom firing an ar¬ 
row at a Buccaneer in the front rank, struck him in the side. The arrow 
penetrated deeply into his body, when with curses he drew it out, wrapped 
round it a handful of the cotton which was used by the pirates as lint, and 
shot it back into the fortress. In a moment the palm leaf roofs of the Spanish 
20 










































UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


306 


houses were in a blaze, and while the distracted Spaniards rushed to put out the 
flames, the Buccaneers fired the palisades. An explosion aided the assailants, and 
although the garrison fought bravely they were all killed and the castle taken. 

A base having been thus secured, the fleet came to anchor before the 
fort, the -whole force of Buccaneers disembarked on the beach, and Morgan 
was carried in the arms of his men into the Spanish fortress. Preparations 
were at once made to put it in a perfect state of defence, guns were landed 
from the fleet and mounted on the walls, provisions were collected, the 
magazine was rebuilt and a garrison of five hundred men placed in the 
fort, now enlarged to more than double its former size, with orders at once 
explicit and positive, that, no matter at what cost, the place was to be 
defended. A guard numbering one hundred and twenty was left with the ships, 
which were brought to anchor under the guns of the fort, and the discontent 
of the Buccaneers who were thus left behind was allaj^ed by the promise that 
whatever the booty, it should be shared equally by those who went to the front 
and by those who guarded the line of retreat. 



















CHAPTER XXVIII. 

REWARDS FIXED FOR SERVICES AND FOR INJURIES. 

ie inception of the stupendous and no less hazard¬ 
ous scheme for the capture and sack of Panama 
details for a division of the plunder were care¬ 
fully drawn up; the commander-in-chief was to 
receive one per cent of everything taken, includ¬ 
ing money, jewels, goods, cattle and slaves; 
subordinate officers were to have shares propor¬ 
tioned to the responsibility of their positions. 
Special rewards were fixed for special services ; he 
who planted the standard on the enemy’s wall was to 
have one hundred pieces of eight ($100.00); he who 
brought information of the enemy’s approach or 
numbers, was to have fifty pieces ; he who cap¬ 
tured a Spaniard or an Indian with important 
intelligence was entitled to twenty. Compensation on a fixed scale was to be made 
for wounds; he who lost the sight of both eyes was to receive a thousand pieces ; 
of one eye, five hundred, and so on, down to the loss of a little finger or toe, 
which was considered amply repaid by ten pieces. 

All being in readiness, the expedition, comprising over 1200 picked men, 
set forward up the Chagres river in canoes, eager for the conquest of the 
richest city in America. The undertaking was no child’s play. Although in a 
direct line Panama was not seventy-five miles away, three times this distance 
must be traversed by the Buccaneer army, for during most of the way the 
line of march must follow the Chagres, a river which, in the tortuousness of its 
course, forms a parallel in the New World to the Meander of the Old. No 
stream has so many unaccountable bends. At many points so considerable 
are the windings that, although a stone may be cast across the penin¬ 
sula which separates one bank from the other, a whole day’s rowing is barely 
sufficient to bring the traveller to a point where he may camp a hundred yards 
from his. resting place on the preceding night. During the dry season, the 
course of the stream is interrupted by sandbars, over and around which progress 
is tedious in the extreme; when the tropical rains descend, with a fury unknown 
in other parts of the world, the river becomes a flood, carrying on its bosom 
masses of drift which threaten the destruction of the stoutest vessel. Infested 
throughout its length by caymans (alligators), the upsetting of a canoe is al¬ 
most equivalent to the death warrant of all that are thrown out, since so active are 
these ferocious creatures and so eager in the pursuit of prey, that the quickest 

(307) 





308 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


swimmer may resign hope when plunged into a stream in which they abound. 
In the ferns and mosses which cover the banks down to the water’s edge poi¬ 
sonous insects lurk, while from the branches which overhang the water venom¬ 
ous serpents lift their heads, and, on a nearer approach of the exploring 
canoe, drop silently into the water. The river passed, a range of mountains 
presented difficulties almost as formidable, for the Indians of the isthmus had 
never been conquered, and from their fastnesses defied hostile invasion. More 
than one band of prying whites had perished in an effort to explore the isth¬ 
mus, and after many vain attempts the Spaniards contented themselves with 
holding the seacoast and protecting, with strong escorts of cavalry and fusiliers, 
the mule trains which, by a more direct route, traversed the isthmus far to the 
south of Morgan’s line of march. 

A JOURNEY OF EXTRAORDINARY HARDSHIPS. 

The artillery pieces of the Buccaneers were loaded into six large canoes; 
thirty-eight more were barely sufficient to contain the men. They had cannon, 
ammunition, arms of every kind in abundance, but little food, for as the canoes 
were already loaded to the water’s edge, Morgan deemed it unwise to freight 
them still more heavily with provisions, since he calculated on obtaining abun¬ 
dant daily supplies along the line of march. In this he was disappointed. The 
Indians had not then learned, as later they did, the distinction between Span¬ 
iards and the mortal foes of their old enemies, and conceiving that all white 
men must speak the language of the Iberian Peninsula, fled before the free¬ 
booters, taking with them all that could be carried away and destroying all 
supplies which from any cause could not be removed. 

At the end of the first days’ journey, therefore, and less than eighteen 
miles from the fleet, the Buccaneers found themselves without supplies and 
suffering the pangs of hunger. In despair at the obstacles of the river route, 
Morgan deserted it, leaving his canoes, and attempted to proceed by land, only 
to find that difficult as the river might be, progress on its waters was a holi¬ 
day voyage compared to the land journey, for after half a day’s arduous labor- 
the expedition was less than a mile from the point where the canoes had been 
abandoned. At this rate they would all perish of starvation before seeing the 
mountains which divided them from the Pacific slope, so back to the canoes 
they went and resumed their tedious journey up the river. 

THE FAMINE. 

Rowing for a time, then disembarking and dragging their boats over long 
stretches of sand, where the cannons mired and were with difficulty extracted ; 
without food, the adventurers cursed the day on which they started into so ill- 
starred a country. For three days they were entirely without rations of any 
kind; they prowled along the banks searching for roots, they ate the grasses 
which grew beneath the trees, the ferns on the slopes, the mosses in the water. 
Time after time they came to plantations on the river, but the banana trees 
had been cut down and the fruit destroyed; time after time, rising smoke in 


UNKNOWN vSEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


309 


the distance inspired hopes of the proximity of human habitations, but the 
smoke arose from deserted villages, set on fire by their inhabitants who had 
fled to the pathless jungle, leaving only ashes and desolation behind. 

On the morning of the fourth day there was a sudden alarm. Shots were 
heard from the advance guard and word was passed down the long straggling 
line that the Spaniards were in the front. The famished men rushed to the 
attack, thinking only of capturing the Spanish camp and obtaining supplies. 
In the former object they were successful, in the latter they were disappointed, 
for although they came to the spot where the Spanish party of observation had 
camped, nothing was left but some smouldering timbers and the hides of a few 
bullocks that had been killed for food. 

The famished bandits quickly drove away the vultures that, having devoured 
the offal, were inclined to dispute the skins with the new arrivals, seized the 
hides as a precious treasure, scraped off the hair, pounded them with stones 
until somewhat softened, then greedily chewed the tough skin, and fortunate 
was he of their number who got as much as he wanted even of this repulsive 
food, for half a dozen hides were no great store of provision for twelve hundred 
men who had fasted for four days. 

On the sixth and seventh days the' famine became still more serious; so 
great was their necessity that many men ate the bark of trees, some filled their 
stomachs with the clay of the river bank, while others became too weak to 
walk and were placed in the canoes which were still wearily dragged on by the 
stronger; not a few were delirious, and scores fell fatally ill from improper 
nutriment and the poisonous plants which in their famishment they had 
devoured. The future of the expedition was intensely gloomy; from one end 
of the line to the other were no other words than curses, complaints and threats 
against the leader who had brought them to die in such a country. 

A BURNING CORN-CRIB. 

Late in the afternoon of the seventh day a burning village was reached, 
and while the Buccaneers, with famine-sharpened eyes, were prowling among the 
houses, they made the welcome discovery that one of the burning structures 
was a storehouse filled with Indian corn. A roar of delight went up at the 
announcement. With one accord a rush was made on the flaming building ; 
men seized the blazing walls and roof in their bare hands and tore them away 
to save the corn. The fire was quickly extinguished, and no Spanish galleon 
laden with gold and jewels was more precious in the eyes of the starved ban¬ 
dits than that storehouse of half charred corn. They seized it by handfuls 
and crammed it, almost blazing, down their throats; they fought with each 
other for a portion; they stole from each other to provide a store against a 
recurrence of the famine. 

They loaded their backs with corn only to throw it away the next day on 
a renewed alarm that the Spaniards were in front. Where there were Spaniards there 
must be something to eat better than corn, so away went the corn into the river only 


310 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


to be regretted when a reconnoissance disclosed the fact that their opponents 
were not Spaniards but Indians. Four Buccaneers were killed by the sudden 
attack of a hidden foe, and twenty more fell before the defile which the savages 
defended was taken. Capture of the Indian village disclosed nothing to eat or 
drink but a few jars of wine, which was all swallowed before the Buccaneers 
discovered it had been poisoned. A terrible fright ensued, amounting to a 
panic, but the quantity of the wine was so small while the drinkers were so 
numerous that its only effect was to make them all deathly sick. But nobody 
died from the poison and the next morning, hungry as ever and cursing their 
stupidity for throwing away so much good corn, they continued their way, 
only to be confronted with a new and unexpected danger. 

A TERRIBLE STORM. 

The storms of the tropics are sudden and severe to a degree known in 
no other part of the world. The dweller in Central America may look from 
his window on an earth bathed in warm sunshine from a cloudless sky, and, 
ten minutes later a cloud so dark as to seem the precursor of nightfall may 
come down from the mountains and rain fall as though the windows of heaven 
had been opened to permit the water of an ocean to pour forth. Such a storm 
fell on the bandit army as the famine-stricken men were making their way up 
the passes of the mountains. The emergency was serious, for their powder 
was in danger of being rendered useless by the down-pouring torrents. For¬ 
tunately for them, a few vacant huts were discovered, into which all the am¬ 
munition was hurried and the wretched men sat down in the darkness, without 
lights or fire, to await the coming day. All night the rain continued but the 
morning brought sunshine, and though wet, hungry and dejected the Bucca¬ 
neers resumed their march. 

IN SIGHT OF PANAMA. 

But their toilsome journey was almost ended. At noon of that day a sud¬ 
den shout, a blast from the trumpets and the rolling of drums from the front 
alarmed the whole column. Hastily looking to their weapons, the main body 
and rear guard hurried up, prepared to resist an attack by the enemy, when, 
on gaining the summit of the pass, a wonderful prospect was presented to 
their view, and the nine days of famine, hardship and labor were forgotten 
as they gazed. From their feet the same forest and jungle with which they were al¬ 
ready so familiar stretched away for four or five miles; in the horizon was the blue 
sea studded with islands like emeralds, and between the two and in the midst 
of this charming picture rose the gray walls, the white palaces and the glitter¬ 
ing domes and steeples of the great city of Panama. 

The battle-stained veterans of Xenophon never shouted more exultingly at 
sight of the sea than did the Buccaneer army when they beheld that picture 
from the mountain pass. Men fell on each other’s necks and embraced like 
long-separated brothers, the trumpets sounded, the flags were displayed, the 
drums rolled as though Panama were already in their hands. 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


311 


But the sharp eyes of some of the band soon detected a sight which for 
the moment was even more inspiring: a large pasture a mile away in which 
grazed a herd of cattle. There was a foot-race for the field, the cattle were 
instantly shot down, fires were built, and the beeves were hardly dead ere enor¬ 
mous pieces of their flesh were broiling in the flames. Then followed scenes 
which reminded the older pirates of the early days of buccaneering. The 
starving men snatching roasting flesh from the embers devoured it half raw, 
stalking about with blood-covered clothing and beards dripping with gore. 
Starved no longer they camped in an auspicious spot, and having placed their 
pickets lay down to sleep with the steeples of Panama in sight and Spanish 
scouts watching them through the bushes. 

THE BATTLE FOR PANAMA. 

Early in the morning they were aroused by the heavy booming of cannon 
and the falling of round shot in their midst, for the Spaniards had moved for¬ 
ward a battery during the night and soon succeeded in getting the distance 
and compelling a speedy evacuation of the ground. The Buccaneers advanced 
to meet them, but perceiving that the Spanish commander had concentrated his 
force and artillery on each side of the highway, they abandoned the road for a 
difficult detour around the hills to flank the Spanish position. 

Understanding the purpose of their enemies the Spaniards hurriedly changed 
their base, drew up their force in the open plain within a mile of the city, 
and when the bandits came to the edge of the forest and peered out they 
were dismayed by the wondrous sight which they beheld. 

Drawn up in a position of great natural strength, flanked on one side by 
a stream and morass, on the other by an almost precipitous hill, was a uni¬ 
formed and disciplined force of nearly four thousand footmen, while about five 
hundred well appointed cavalry were placed on the wings of this imposing 
array, and in front a host of Indians held in leash hundreds of savage bulls, 
with which the Spaniards hoped to break the ranks of the bandits. To 
oppose this overwhelming force, Morgan had scarcely a thousand able-bodied 
men, for the famine and hardships of the nine days’ march across the isthmus 
had rendered many of his best soldiers incapable of service. 

A DESPERATE SITUATION. 

Morgan was stupefied. He had expected to find Panama unaware of his 
coming and almost undefended; but Panama had evidently heard the news and 
soldiers-had been hurried to the capital from all the neighboring towns. They 
were veterans, too; the robber chief knew it by their uniforms, by their dis¬ 
cipline and their marching. The situation was desperate; to retreat over the 
route by which he had come was certain death by starvation; to advance in 
the presence of this host of enemies seemed no less certain destruction. 

In this terrible strait he appealed to his followers in an impassioned 
speech, saying: “There is the road to Panama, will you take it?” “We 
will,” was the answering shout. Morgan divided his available force into three 


312 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 



battalions, and deployed four companies, about two hundred men, to act as 
skirmishers to bring on the battle. 

The conflict was opened by releasing the bulls, the Spanish cavalry, with 
their lances, goading them across the plain in the direction of the Bucca¬ 
neers. But the sharp-shooters quickly laid most of these animals low by well 
directed shots, and the remainder, maddened by wounds and fright, charged 
back towards the Spanish army stampeding the horses and throwing the infantry 
into confusion by breaking their ranks in every direction. 

While the enemy was thus beset by the savage cattle, Morgan ordered a 
general advance, and in three serried ranks the Buccaneer army moved across 


the plains. The Spanish cavalry charged gallantly, but every effort was in 
vain; ere they could approach near enough to use their lances, the deadly fire 
of the Buccaneers emptied their saddles; the riderless horses, rushing back on 
the ranks of the infantry still further disorganized the ranks broken by the 
infuriated bulls, and after a short conflict the entire Spanish force gave way, 
and horse and footmen, Indians and bulls, poured in a frightened mass through 
the gates into the city. 

CAPTURE OF PANAMA. 

Morgan did not attempt an immediate pursuit. His force was not strong 
enough to take the fortifications by storm and a hand-to-hand fight in the 


WILD BULLS IN LINE OF BATTLE. 







































* 













































✓ ; s 



iff- - - ,-JB 

8®^ r 

'JraT Jv - 



ffl ill 




» 

i 

j<a 3 |jk 

KEra»«^V 31 

Efi 

/V 

|y ymHiCTifn jfri 



; TS'.f 

*> 


COPYRIGHT 1891, 


The rape of Panama—Morgan forcing 















HISTORICAL PUB. CO., PHfLA., PA., U. S. A. 


PRISONERS TO PRODUCE THEIR VALUABLES. 









































UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


313 


streets, so he camped on the field, while his followers busied themselves in 
murdering the wounded and stripping the slain. Over six hundred Spaniards 
fell in the battle, while the bandits lost less than a hundred in both killed and 
wounded. 

From the moment of the victory the city was practically in the power of the 
Buccaneers, for although the sea fortifications of Panama were extensive, no 
attack had been anticipated from the land side, which, save a few redoubts 
hastily thrown up on the rumors of Morgan’s approach, was almost unde¬ 
fended. The next day, therefore, the leading earthwork which defended the 
high road was flanked and taken and the Alcalde surrendered the city into the 
hands of a set of the most arrant rogues that ever escaped the gallows. 

A RIOT OF MURDER AND RAPINE. 

Before marching into the place Morgan strictly commanded his men to 
drink no wine, declaring that it all had been poisoned, a statement which, remem¬ 
bering their recent experience, the bandits could readily credit. But vice is in¬ 
genious in its methods. The soldiers, finding wine in abundance, gave it in 
large quantities to the prisoners, and after waiting a suitable time and seeing 
no evil result other than intoxication, began to drink deeply and before morn¬ 
ing Panama was held by an army of men infuriated with drink. Then ensued 
scenes of lust and blood such as are witnessed only when unlimited license is 
backed by absolute power. Women were dishonored then brutally murdered; 
men were coolly hacked to pieces in sport, children were carried about the 
streets on the points of pikes and lances and other equally revolting atrocities 
characterized the Buccaneers’ mad revel. 

The universal drunkenness of the Buccaneers lost them much booty, for 
when* the condition of the city was seen to be hopeless, many persons embarked 
with all their portable property in vessels which had not left the bay when 
Morgan marched through the gates. By prompt action many of these might have 
been taken, but the leader could not at first find sober men enough to man a 
boat and many of the fugitives thus fortunately escaped. The most valuable 
prize which thus slipped from the greedy clutches of the freebooters was a great 
galleon loaded with the plate and wealth of the cathedral, and having as pas¬ 
sengers the bishop, the leading priests and a large number of nuns, and women of 
the best families, for whose ransom an immense sum would have been demanded 
and paid. This vessel leaving the harbor on the day of the capture arrived in 
Spain six months later, but the Buccaneers, learning of her escape, made 
amends for their remissness by arming vessels and scouring the bay in every 
direction and few of the fugitives who concealed themselves in the island re¬ 
mained undetected. 

INHUMAN CRUELTIES TO PRISONERS. 

Every day the scouting parties thus sent out brought in hapless prisoners; 
and boatloads of fugitives were landed at the quay from the neighboring islands 
and the tortures of Maracaibo and Gibraltar were repeated on a far larger scale 


314 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 



MORGAN THREATENING THE UNHAPPY WOMAN. 

might collect an overwhelming force and fall upon them, but with one excuse 
and then another Morgan delayed. For some days the men did not know 
what it meant but a roar of laughter went through the ranks when the truth 
at last came out, the Buccaneer leader was in love. 

No coat of mail is impervious to Cupid’s arrows and the little archer had, 
during the sacking of the city, launched a shaft which penetrated to the very 
centre of the Buccaneer’s heart. Among the captives there was a beautiful 
Spanish lady who had been captured by the falling of her horse during the 
hasty retreat of the Spaniards from the city. Her husband was a merchant of 
Taboga, but at the time of the city’s capitulation to the brigands was absent 
on business in Peru. 


at Panama. An immense plunder was secured. Although for weeks before the 
arrival of the bandits, notice of their coming had preceded them and timid 
persons had begun to remove their valuables, and notwithstanding in the two 
days that elapsed between the appearance of the Buccaneers and the surrender 
of the city a hundred ships had left the harbor, loaded with valuables, the 
gold, silver and gems taken were valued at $8,000,000, while costly goods, 
fine stuffs and valuable merchandise of every description were estimated at as 
much more. 

In a week the busy plunderers exhausted the city and surrounding country 
and clamored to start on their return, fearing that the government of Panama 










UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


315 


MORGAN'S INFATUATION FORA SPANISH LADY. 

That strange infatuation which is sometimes observed seized Morgan at 
first sight of the lady, but there was something about her that compelled . the 
respect even of a pirate leader; he could not talk to her so freely as to other 
women; in her presence the lewd word and profane jest were hushed and the 
leader in vice stood abashed before the commanding figure of a virtuous lady. 
To the proposals of Morgan the beautiful Spaniard returned answer in terms 
so mild, so full of the spirit of genuine piety, that the arch-pirate was for a 
while in doubt how to urge his suit. Not satisfied, however, to relinquish his 
designs, but reluctant to use force, he ordered the lady to be imprisoned in the 
crypt of one of the churches until she should yield. Here, day after day, he 
visited her, on each occasion offering her rich gifts, only to receive as often a 
fresh rejection of his suit; he then threatened to stab her to death for her 
obstinate resistance, but flattery and intimidation were alike, vain to gain or 
compel her acquiescence. Rumors of the affair got abroad; the place of the lady’s 
imprisonment became known, and those who passed by the church would stop, 
remove their hats and listen to her voice engaged in almost continual prayer. 

The rough men were touched with the pitiable plight of the unhappy 
woman and allusions to the incident, in no way complimentary to the bandit 
chief, were made even in his hearing. After two weeks of this discipline, the 
men meantime becoming daily more clamorous to march, Morgan determined to 
leave Panama and take the lady along. An unexpected discovery hastened the 
departure: One of the firmest friends of the chief brought him the intelligence 
that a party of mutinous Buccaneers had formed a design to seize a large 
vessel then in the harbor and sail away on an expedition of their own. 
Fearing lest some scheme of this kind might succeed and leave him with a 
force too small to withstand the Spaniards, who were collecting troops at no 
great distance from the city, he ordered all the ships in the harbor to be sunk 
and then gave directions for the retreat. 

THE BURNING OF PANAMA. 

Mules and pack animals, to the number of over 700, were laden with 
plunder, and with a train of 600 prisoners the Buccaneer band moved out of 
the city, in mere wantonness setting it on fire as they went. In a few hours 
the beautiful “Queen of the South Seas” was in ashes, the fire consuming the 
cathedral, four or five other churches, eight monasteries and convents, a great 
number of warehouses and stores, and more than 6000 private residences. 

Even the. hard hearted historian of the Buccaneers, himself one of their 
number, says, “ it was pitiful to hear the lamentations of those whose houses 
we burned and to listen to the screams of the women we were carrying away, 
so that for a time I did wish myself away with the advance-guard.” 

The prisoners were such persons as had not been ransomed, their friends 
and relatives having been killed by the bandits, or those whose ransom had 
not arrived, but in either case they regarded themselves as going into hopeless 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


316 


captivity and viewed with horror their approaching fate. Some of the women 
threw themselves on the ground and refused to walk. Of these a few were 
killed as an example, but this violent measure proving ineffectual the remainder 
were forcibly placed on the backs of mules and tied there, thus being carried 
forward in spite of tears and remonstrance. The Taboga lady was set upon a 
horse and guarded on each side by two bandits, but just at the time the march 
began a messenger arrived from her husband, asking what ransom was demanded 
for her. Carelessly saying he did not care to part with her, Morgan evaded the 
question, but on being pressed for a reply, named $30,000, as the lowest sum 
he would consent to receive. The messenger replied that it should be paid and 
Morgan directed it to 
be sent to the river 
Chagres, where he in¬ 
tended to halt on his 
return. 

THE SPANISH LADY 
RANSOMED. 

When the river 
was reached a stop of 
several days was 
made for the purpose 
of waiting for the 
promised ransoms. 

Some came, others did 
not, and when the day 
arrived for the ad¬ 
vance, among the un¬ 
ransomed was the lady 
of Taboga. In despair 
at the prospect of be¬ 
ing carried into a 
hopeless captivity, she 
revealed to Morgan 
what, till then, she had kept concealed, that her ransom had been brought into 
camp the day before by a priest who had used it to release some of his clerical 
brethren. 

Furious at the deception, Morgan sent a strong party post-haste after the 
priests, who left the camp some hours before. The brigands overtook them a 
few miles away and compelled them, much against their will, to return. On 
their arrival, the chief cross-examined them with great severity, and finding 
that the lady had told the truth, commanded the whole party to be shot, then 
performed one of the few creditable acts of his life, by ordering the lady to be 
at once released without further ransom, and thus ended the first and last love- 
scrape of the great Buccaneer. 




UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


317 


Oil the arrival of the force in Chagres a few days later, Morgan excited a 
storm of excitement among the men by commanding every one in the expedi¬ 
tion to be searched, beginning with himself, in order that no one might conceal 
any part of the plunder. Such a thing had never been done before among the 
Buccaneer bands, and there was at first a loudly expressed determination to. 
resist by force ; but as the leader was surrounded by a body of about a hun¬ 
dred determined men who seemed prepared to carry out the order, discretion 
was deemed the better part of valor and the general search was submitted to 
with a very bad grace. But the indignation at the searching of their persons 
and baggage was a trifle to the wrath expressed when the division of spoils, 
was made, and to each man was allotted about $200, as his share of the 
Panama prize. 

TREACHERY OF THE COMMANDER. 

Fierce were the threats and denunciations that were bandied about at this 
meagre result of so much hardship and fighting. “ Was it for $200 each they 
had famished on the Chagres?” “Was it for this, they had defeated a Spanish 
army six times their own strength ? ” “ There was treachery in the camp and 

Morgan and the hundred men who were always at his heels and who seemed 
devoted to his interests, were at the bottom of it.” “ But they should not es¬ 
cape.” The outraged Buccaneers would see to that, and preparations were in¬ 
stantly made among the angry and defrauded pirates to assert their claim by 
force of arms. But Morgan and his confederates, having been sharp enough: 
to defraud the Buccaneer army of its plunder, were also sharp enough to keep 
their stealings, for on the next morning, when the malcontents roused them¬ 
selves and went to headquarters to demand satisfaction or to shed blood, Mor¬ 
gan was no where to be found, and when search was made three of the best 
ships were gone too, and the remainder were in a sinking condition. The 
leader had departed and with him went not only the hundred men who were 
his confederates in the robbery, but even a large share of the plunder that by 
his own admission was to be divided among the men, so that those of their 
number who had failed at once to draw the $200 which fell to their share 
found themselves with nothing. 

The swindled pirates could not follow; they had no ships, for Morgan had 
taken pains to ruin all he did not carry off. Left penniless, almost without 
provisions, on a hostile shore, they realized to the full the truth expressed in 
a proverb quoted to them by one of their number, “Old Nick pays poor wages, 
on a small contract.” A few at a time, as they were taken off by passing 
vessels or in the crazy hulks left by their leader, they made their way back to 
Jamaica and Tortuga as poor as when they left, only to find that Morgan had 
tricked his confederates and after managing to get all the plunder into one 
vessel under pretense that the others were unseaworthy, had sailed off to En¬ 
gland carrying with him over $8,000,000 in money and goods, and leaving the 
hundred who had helped him to defraud the army no richer than those they 
had abandoned on the Darien coast. 


CHAPTER XXIX. 

DECLINE OF BUCCANEERING. 



the wars of 
the millions 


ARS of the Grand Alliance against France 
had done much to promote buccaneering in 
the West India Seas, and although the 
French and English freebooters had not co¬ 
operated for years, they refrained from hos¬ 
tilities with each other. So much indeed was 
thought of the freebooters that there was 
a special understanding between England and 
France that their hostilities were not to ex¬ 
tend to the West Indies. There was then 
presented the anomalous spectacle of English¬ 
men and Frenchmen, whose nations were at 
war in Europe, preying on Spaniards who in 
Europe w r ere the allies of Great Britain. The 
peace of Ryswick, in 1697, which put an end to 
the Grand Alliance contained a clause which meant little to 
of Europe, but which was the death warrant of buccaneering. 
It was, in brief, a provision that private war should cease and that the 
fleets of all the covenanting nations should unite in suppressing the irregular 
warfare which for two hundred years had disgraced the equatorial part of the 
New World. In accordance with the terms of the treaty the English gov¬ 
ernment set to work with great vigor to break up the establishments of freebooters 
in the English islands. The Buccaneer cruisers were ordered away from Jamaica 
and forbidden to return; pirates, which they now began to be called, were no longer 
allowed to sell their booty or spend their money in the English settlements, 
and men-of-war were sent to see that the orders of the Government were car¬ 
ried out to the letter. Men familiar with West Indian customs and with Buc¬ 
caneer resorts were sought for and placed in authority in the western 
colonies in order that stern justice might be meted out to all transgressors. 

THE EX-BANDIT BECOMES JUDGE MORGAN. 

Among the judicial officers who, by their severity, rendered themselves a 
terror to evil-doers, was no less a personage than Henry Morgan, the ex-Bandit 
Chief, now Sir Henry Morgan, if you please. Having succeeded in persuading 
twelve hundred other thieves to join him in plundering Panama, and in robbing 
his confederates of almost all the booty taken, as already described, he escaped 
to England with the booty, and there, established in society as a man of vast 
wealth, he had been knighted by Charles II, and was consequently prepared to 

(318) 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


319 



In short, Sir Henry had come to the West Indies strongly imbued with 
the notion that he had been sent there for the purpose of hanging as many of 
his former associates as he could, and with no little zeal he set about the task. 
No one so loud in denunciation of lawlessness as he; no one so thoroughly 
convinced of the heinousness of all crime, and in particular the crime of bucca¬ 
neering. “Plundering on the high seas,” declared this fugleman of judicial 
purity in one of his decisions, “is of hell. No good subject of our Lord the 
King could be guilty of it.” 


frown down all lawless attempts on the part of reckless adventurers to inter¬ 
fere with the sacred rights of property. His burning zeal in the interests of 
law and order commended him to the government as a proper person to pro¬ 
mote peace and quiet in the West Indies, and so 

“With eyes severe and beard of formal cut 
Full of wise laws and modern instances, 

he reappeared in his former scene of action with wig and gown, as an English 
judge. The Buccaneers laughed when his appointment was announced, but 
soon found it was no gleeful matter., for as soon as he entered on the duties of his 
office, they ascertained that although he knew nothing of law, his ideas of 
justice were very clearly defined. 


MORGAN REBUKING HIS PARTNER IN CRIME. 









320 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


SAVAGE DESTRUCTION OF THE BUCCANEERS. 

With such an abhorrence of crime in general, and especially of piracy, 
English Buccaneers who had the misfortune to be taken stood little show for 
their lives before the reformed demon of the main, Sir Henry. He gave them 
the benefit of no doubt. If they were taken with arms in their hands, that 
fact was sufficient for their conviction. No mercy was shown. To a prisoner who 
ventured to suggest that he and his judge had served together at Panama, 
His Lordship roared “ Thinkest thou, wretch, I ever had companionship with 
such as thou art. The Henry Morgan thou knewest is dead. Sir Henry ^ the 
judge, alone survives to mourn Henry the Buccaneer.” 

With no place to sell their plunder, with no home, for Tortuga had been 
taken and occupied by a French expedition, and with their former leader eager 
to efface the memory cf his own crimes by hanging all his former associates 
he could lay his judicial hands on, the business of the English Buccaneers 
became , a sorry one indeed. Many deserted the seas and took to the occupation 
of planting; others abandoned the West Indies for more favorable fields ; others 
came to terms with the commanders of British vessels and regularly entered 
the service of the British navy, where, on account of their well-known bravery 
and excellent seamanship, they were very welcome; while others, loth to give up 
an occupation which, although fraught with danger, still possessed many charms 
for adventurous minds, relinquished their national prejudices and consorted with 
the filibusters, who still carried on business at the old stand, and who still 
at war with the English made so many descents on the coasts of Jamaica and 
carried off so much plunder and so many negroes that they called that island 
“ Little Guinea.” 

There were several reasons why the filibusters were encouraged by the 
French for some years after the English had begun the suppression of the 
Buccaneers, but the principal one was found in the fact that France was so 
depleted, both of men and of money by the wars of La Grande Monarque, 
that troops could not be spared for the protection of the West Indian colonies, 
which were, therefore, forced to rely on the filibusters for security against 
the Spaniards. The same class, therefore, who were suppressed by the 
English as an international nuisance were encouraged by the French as a 
public benefit and the surest guarantee against Spanish invasion and conquest. 
In France, “ Nos Filibustiers ” were popular heroes, and the French historians 
record with pride any achievement done by these. “ Knights of the Ocean 
Wave” as a matter of national congratulation. 

While the peace of Ryswick was in negotiation an enterprise was under¬ 
taken by the French which proved to be the last important appearance of 
either Buccaneers or filibusters on the stage of history. The war with the 
Grand Alliance had gone against France to such an extent as greatly to shock 
the national pride and to close the war with a little plunder, as well as pres¬ 
tige, was necessary to recruit the finances and to maintain the profligate 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


321 


Louis’ reputation for greatness, a reputation, which by the way, was his chief 
stock in trade for carrying on the business of a reigning monarch with proper 
dignity and success: The object proposed was to fit out a French fleet which 
should make a descent on some port of Spain in the New World, secure a 
large booty and then let the curtain fall on a disastrous war with a blaze of 
red fire and a burst of triumphant music from the band. 

THE CARTAGENA EXPEDITION. 

There being little money, however, available for such a purpose, the 
treasury being empty by the long continued wars of Louis XIV., popular 
subscriptions were called for, and a considerable sum, quite enough to fit out 
the necessary naval force, was raised by leading capitalists, bankers and 
noblemen. On their part the matter was a speculation, the funds being 
furnished with the understanding that the booty was to be divided among them 
proportionately to the advances they made, while the possibility of loss was of 
course not contemplated. 

The profitable nature of raids on the Spanish main being well known, the 
subscribers were liberal, and the result was one of the largest fleets which 
France had ever sent to the New World. The command was given to Monsieur 
de Pointis, an old sailor, a commander of experience and of high reputation, 
and by him a commission was sent to Monsieur de Casse, the governor of the 
French settlements in Hispaniola (Hayti), to raise at least twelve hundred 
men to co-operate in the undertaking. When the fleet arrived in the West 
Indies and the filibusters saw the man with whom they had to deal, their 
dissatisfaction with his haughtiness and lack of condescension was so great that 
they hesitated about joining the expedition. They were accustomed to the 
free and easy ways of their own leaders, who at best were only temporarily 
in command, and when off duty were of no higher rank than their fellows, 
and the lack of discipline among the freebooters very ill-prepared them for 
submitting to the stern exercise of authority by a martinet admiral. 

But though they grumbled greatly at the airs which Monsieur de Pointis and 
his officers gave themselves, they finally concluded to co-operate with the French 
fleet, for such was its strength that they anticipated great booty as a result of 
its operations. So they did not relinquish what they deemed a permanent and 
solid advantage for the few haughty words of the French commander-in-chief. 
They did not know where they were going, but felt satisfied that on whatever 
point the attack was made, material advantage would result to themselves from 
the assistance of the French force. 

AGREEMENT FOR DIVIDING THE PLUNDER. 

But before definitely consenting to join the expedition, they insisted that 
an exact agreement should be entered into with reference to the division of the 
booty, desiring to know what share of it would fall to themselves. On this 
point there was much discussion, for as de Pointis considered himself the only 
person of authority in the whole command, he was strongly inclined to, give 


322 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


them no satisfaction, and to compel them to be content with whatever he should 
allot. To this, however, they would by no means agree, and after much dis¬ 
cussion an understanding was finally reached, that filibusters and colonists 
should share equally man for man with the men of the French fleet. This 
matter was no sooner settled than another difficulty arose, this time between de 
Pointis and de Casse. The latter, since he had furnished so large a proportion 
of the force, decided that he himself would accompany his men as their com¬ 
mander, and wished to be informed what rank he would hold in the expedition. 
In his opinion, as the filibusters and colonists formed a large part of the 
available fighting force, their leader should rank equally with the admiral of 
the fleet, but to this de Pointis would by no means consent, and de Casse 
finally accompanied the expedition with the rank of captain of a ship, for 
discontented as he was, he was unwilling to be left behind, and hoping to share 
equally in the glory and in the plunder, accompanied his men. 

It was settled that the filibusters should go in their own ships and 
should provide themselves with six weeks’ rations, and before starting a grand 
review was held of all the available force in order that none but able-bodied 
men should be taken. During the course of this parade it was discovered 
that a considerable party of negroes desired to join the expedition, and a special 
clause was inserted in the plunder agreement for this part of the force. The 
free negroes were to be counted as sharing equally with the whites in the 
division of the spoils, while the portions of slaves were to go to their masters. 
Copies of the agreement were posted up in public places at Petit Goave, that 
all might be informed as to its particulars. Copies were also deposited with, 
leading officials of the colony, the Admiral taking one, Monsieur de Casse an¬ 
other, and one was sent to France. 

The point of attack had not yet been determined. The colonists and fili¬ 
busters voted for San Domingo on account of its nearness and the benefit the 
colonies would derive from the expulsion of the Spaniards from Hispaniola, but 
San Domingo was not rich enough to suit the Admiral, and as plunder was the 
leading object, Cartagena, on the north coast of South America, in what is now 
Colombia, was finally selected. 

A SERIOUS ROW PRECIPITATED BY A DRUNKEN MAN. 

All was now in readiness, but on the point of departure the inopportune 
drunkenness of one- of the filibusters precipitated a difficulty which nearly 
broke up the expedition. De Pointis, assuming that as he was commander-in¬ 
chief his authority extended over the land of the French colonies as well as 
over the sea, had taken possession of a fort in Petit Goave and had garrisoned 
it with his own men. The day before the fleet was to sail, a drunken filibus¬ 
ter staggering along the road leading into the fort was stopped by the sentinel. 
Angry at the interruption he sprang upon the man and attempted to take his 
gun. The sentinel resisted, and unwilling to shoot the freebooter, knocked him 
down with the butt of his musket, at the same time calling for the guard. 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


323 


Responding to the sentinel’s shouts, the petty officer turned out with three or 
four men and in a twinkling the drunken freebooter was dragged into the 
fort, put in irons and thrown into the guard-house. The affray was witnessed 
by several of the comrades of the drunken man, who at once ran to the 
camp and spread the report that de Pointis’ dandies, as the filibusters 
called his men, were killing a colonist. In a moment the camp of the free¬ 
booters was in an uproar. Without waiting for orders, they seized their arms 
and ran to the fort to attack it and to secure the release of their comrade. 
Seeing so disorderly a mob, armed to the teeth, rushing up the hill, the sol¬ 
diers of the garrison closed the gates, ran out two pieces of artillery, and set 
their arms ready to resist any attack that might be made. While the filibus¬ 
ters were on their way, word was brought to de Casse and de Pointis, who 
chanced to be very near the scene of the affray. Knowing the serious results 
that might follow a conflict of this kind, they both rushed in, one imploring 
the freebooters to desist, the other ordering the garrison not to fire. With 
much difficulty the enraged filibusters were finally dissuaded from their inten¬ 
tion, and the matter was compromised, the drunken freebooter being released, 
and the officer who put him in irons was sent on board one of the ships 
under arrest. 

On April 3d, 1697, the fleet sailed from Petit Goave for Cartagena. It 
was a formidable array. Seven men-of-war of the first class led the way, fol¬ 
lowed by eleven frigates and over forty smaller vessels, the force on board 
consisting of seven hundred filibusters, one hundred and seventy soldiers 
from the French garrisons, and three hundred and thirty volunteer colonists 
and negroes, altogether about twelve hundred men from the garrisons, which, 
with the crews of the ships, made the total force over five thousand, five hun¬ 
dred and fifty. 

THE ATTACK ON CARTAGENA. 

Cartagena was sighted on April 13th, but two days were spent in endeav¬ 
oring to make a landing. The city was found to be approachable only by 
the lake, and the only entrance to this was by Bocca Chica, which was 
defended by a strong Spanish fort. A heavy cannonade was carried on 
for several hours, and under cover of the guns of the fleet a landing was 
finally effected by a corps of eighty negroes. After these had secured a strong 
position along a line of hills near the fort and had driven back the Spaniards 
from their outer works, a body of filibusters landed and took the water fort 
by storm. 

To the east of the city of Cartagena, and commanding all the land ap¬ 
proaches, there was a high hill crowned by the church of Nuestra Signuin de 
la Poupa. In the church and the convent adjoining, the Spaniards had extem¬ 
porized a fortification, the outer works of which extended a considerable distance 
down the hill, and presented a most formidable barrier to the progress of an 
enemy. Beneath the hill on the side furthest from the sea, the French from 


324 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


their ships could observe the inhabitants of the city moving out in large num¬ 
bers, and taking with them wagons and pack animals which no doubt bore 
away the property of the Spaniards beyond the reach of successful pursuit. In 
order to prevent this general exodus, which if continued promised to lose to the 
besiegers all the expected booty, the French admiral assigned the Buccaneers 
to the dangerous task of scaling the hill and capturing its fortifications. No 
regular troops either of the land or from the ships were sent along, and the 
impression at once gained ground, among both colonists and filibusters, that 
de Pointis was desirous of sparing his own men, and esteeming the lives of 
the freebooters of no consequence, did not care how many of them were killed. 
Though greatly dissatisfied, they entered gallantly upon the required service, 
carried the hill by an assault that awoke the admiration of the French, and 
thus completely invested the city both by sea and land. 

Still the Spaniards were not without resources. Although their condition 
seemed almost hopeless, they kept up a desperate resistance, raised new barriers 
to take the place of the outer works captured by the filibusters, and fought 
so desperately that it was not until May 3d that the city capitulated. Even 
then they did not surrender without securing for themselves terms of 
capitulation, though these were only such as would be granted by robbers 
to their victims. All public effects were to be given up, and all moneys de¬ 
livered over. The inhabitants were free to go or stay as they pleased, but 
those who went must, before leaving the city, deliver all their property of what¬ 
ever nature to their conquerors, while those who remained were to declare what 
money and valuables they possessed, no matter of what nature, and upon giv¬ 
ing up half were allowed to retain the remainder, but all churches and convents 
* were to be respected. 



CHAPTER XXX. 



THE PLUNDER OF CARTAGENA. 

PON taking possession of the city, de Poin- 
tis was careful to spread the rumor that 
Cartagena would be taken permanently 
from the Spaniards and made a French 
colony. For this rumor he had a reason. 
He argued that if the Spaniards believed 
they were to come back under the control 
of the French, they would be more anxious 
to make peace with their new masters, and 
thus the funds would be the more easily 
collected. His judgment in this matter 
was correct, for under no expedition was 
a larger amount of money secured with less 
trouble than in this. After conquering the city, 
the French general with his staff and soldiers pro¬ 
ceeded at once to the cathedral where the Spanish priests were compelled to 
sing a Te Deuin in honor of the occasion, after which a proclamation was 
issued, recounting the manner in which the stealing was to be done. All 
priests in charge of churches, heads of monasteries, and all nunneries were ad¬ 
monished that although their houses were to be spared, yet they should understand 
that they must give up all money in their possession ; “ otherwise,” added the 
pious Admiral, “ it is in your power to collect within your domiciles all the 
money of the city, and thus deprive us of our just rights.” Thus advised, 
the good fathers and sisters set an example to the people by hurriedly con¬ 
tributing all the funds of their respective establishments for the benefit of the 
pious de Pointis and his companions, and to carry out the plan of a perma¬ 
nent occupation, du Casse was made governor, and a civil administration 
was appointed and put in’ operation. 

DESPOILING THE SPANIARDS. 

The paroled soldiers were forbidden to enter the houses of the inhabit¬ 
ants until an officer of the fleet had made an inspection, catechised the in¬ 
habitants, and ascertained what available money and goods were in the dwell¬ 
ing. A reward was proclaimed for information of hidden wealth, and a tenth 
of all that was thus discovered was to be paid to the informer, while the pun¬ 
ishment of death was denounced to all who should endeavor to conceal or 
carry off money or valuables, thus defrauding the victors of their spoils. 

(325) 









326 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


With these incitements the citizens of Cartagena exhibited great readiness 
to disclose the state of their affairs, having good reasons for the alacrity they 
displayed; for, although the methods of the French contrasted favorably with 
those of the filibusters and Buccaneers, there was a certain suggestive sharp¬ 
ness in the proclamations and warnings of Monsieur de Pointis, which made 
the Cartagena people rather careful as to how they undertook to deceive his 
inspectors. An office for the reception of property was opened, and in French 
fashion the people were formed en queue , to take their turn at delivering up 
their property. The scenes witnessed during this part of the exercises were 
both humorous and pathetic, for the French were not at all scrupulous in ad¬ 
hering to the published terms of the proclamation, and sometimes appropriated 
more than fell to their share. An old man of the line whose sole wealth con¬ 
sisted of one bar of silver of the value of ten dollars, brought it up to the in¬ 
spector and declared it to be his all. “ O, well,” said this worthy personage, 
“ it is hardly worth while to divide this,” so he threw the bar, without further 
comment, into the French pile. An aged negro stood in the line loaded with 
six chickens, expecting to keep half, but to his intense disappointment, the 
whole were carried off by the greedy Frenchmen. A widow brought four 
crowns, something less than six dollars, and in a fit of generosity the officer 
let her keep the whole, but just round the corner waited a filibuster, who at 
once relieved her of her little store. So great were the deliveries that the offi¬ 
cers could not weigh the money or store the merchandise fast enough. 

In spite of the professions of regularity made by the Admiral, peculations 
were innumerable. The officers who were charged with the house-to-house 
inspection often compromised with the inhabitants, personally securing a part 
of the booty and allowing the Admiral to be defrauded. Years afterward it was 
noted as a curious fact that every one of de Pointis’ inspectors became wealthy. 
Not a man of them made less than one hundred thousand crowns, about sixty 
thousand dollars, and some three or four times this much. Nor did the strict 
orders issued to the troops prevent innumerable little robberies which were 
perpetually taking place all over the city. The French sailors stole, the colon¬ 
ists stole; in fact it was a stealing expedition from the Admiral down to the 
humblest seaman. Everybody seemed to consider it the one most favorable oppor¬ 
tunity of his life to become wealthy. 

A QUARREL OVER THE SPOILS. 

During the first few days of occupation, a difference arose between the 
Admiral and de Casse about the plunder. The latter having been appointed 
governor of the city, naturally considered himself as having some authority 
and entitled to some respect. While the plundering was going on much of the 
stolen property was brought to him, and of it he took charge; but the Admiral 
was in no way desirous that de Casse should trouble himself about this part 
of the business, and sent him word that all assessments must be paid to the 
King’s officers, as appointed by himself, that the King’s clerks would take 


UNKNOWN SEAvS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


327 


account of the moneys and merchandise collected, and that the colonists and 
filibusters should have their due share. But all the time, as fast as the money 
was weighed it was packed in boxes and carried into the King’s ships, not 
even a single chest being allowed to go into the vessels of the colonists. De 
Casse suspecting that some roguery was in contemplation, insisted that the 
colonists should have officers to assist at the collection of the treasury, and that 
they should also be represented by clerks who would take account of the pay¬ 
ments made by the Cartagena people. This proposition, however, was so far 
from satisfactory to the Admiral that he most emphatically declared it to be an 
infringement of his dignity in nowise to be permitted. Finding himself, there¬ 
fore, deprived of all but the semblance of authority, de Casse replied with a 
protest against what he termed the illegality of the whole proceeding. De 
Pointis cared nothing for his protest, and the collection went on as before, the 
Admiral proving that although he professed great contempt for the filibusters, 
he had been able from their methods to learn much which proved of value to 
him in the emergency in which he found himself at Cartagena. In short, he 
was an adept in the filibuster principles, and needed but an opportunity to 
become a skilful leader of the brotherhood. 

The regulated collection did not, as already stated, save the citizens from 
enterprising men both among the filibusters and the French who sought to 
do a little business on their own account. Complaints were made both to the 
Admiral and de Casse, and orders were issued to prevent irregular depredations. 
But the officers neglected to enforce these orders and the men refused to pay 
the slightest attention to them. In despair the citizens sought to protect 
themselves, and some hired filibusters to guard their houses from unli¬ 
censed thieving. It is said that some of the freebooters faithfully performed 
the work they covenanted to do and religiously kept all other rogues at a dis¬ 
tance ; but it is equally certain that others, after receiving the money paid 
them as guards, turned and robbed the houses they had agreed to protect. In 
this line of action the filibusters seemed to be the leaders, and the Admiral hear¬ 
ing rumors that they were getting more than their share of the plunder, deter¬ 
mined no longer to be hampered by their presence but at the earliest possible 
moment to get them out of the city. By his connivance, if not at his sugges¬ 
tion, a report was spread abroad that an army of ten to fifteen thousand Indians 
and Spanish were approaching to attack the invaders and the filibusters and 
colonists were ordered out to meet them, while the soldiers and sailors of the 
French were to constitute a reserve line. Suspecting nothing, the colonists and 
freebooters marshalled their companies, marched out of the city in good order, 
took the road to the neighboring hills where they made a stand in a mountain 
pass and waited for some days, in the meantime prowling through the woods in 
search of the expected foe. After several days of waiting for an enemy that 
failed to come, they returned to the city and were almost paralyzed with aston¬ 
ishment at finding the gates shut, artillery mounted and a formidable guard of 


328 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


French holding the city against them. Asking what this meant, they received 
a polite message from the Admiral to the effect that he thought it better 
they should remain without the walls until the fleet was ready to sail. 

A WILY AND AVARICIOUS ADMIRAL. 

Their rage at this treatment was extreme. All sorts of measures were 
suggested, and they even proposed to attack the city, but as the French 
display of force was great, and the freebooters had no artillery, an assault 
was hopeless and their leaders dissuaded them from so vain a purpose. 
They were kept without the walls for fifteen days, during which time the 
whole of the plunder had been collected and sent on board the French fleet, 
and not until the last dollar was safe in the coffers of the Admiral were the 
gates opened and the freebooters readmitted. 

Naturally they expected that a division of the plunder would at once take 
place, and besieged the Admiral’s quarters with inquiries as to when they 
should get their share. To all questions, whether from the freebooters or 
the colonists, the clever de Pointis had but one answer, that the clerks had 
not yet cast up the accounts, and until the whole of the treasure had been 
counted, no settlement was possible, for he could not tell what would be his or 
their amount until the whole was known. This seemed reasonable, so with 
no little impatience the freebooters waited a few days longer, and again mak¬ 
ing application, received precisely the same answer. Perceiving, however, their 
impatience, and hearing of the threats which they were beginning to make, the 
Admiral issued a proclamation assigning large rewards to the captains of the 
filibusters, declaring what amounts should be allowed, each man being specified 
by name. No money, however, was paid, and although all the plunder was on 
the French fleet, the fair promises of the Admiral and his apparent sincerity 
in speaking of the affair made the filibusters so hopeful of receiving justice 
at his hands that they permitted themselves to be dissuaded by their leaders 
from making any disturbance and peacefully awaited the anticipated division. 
The wildest estimates were afloat as to the value of the plunder. Cartagena 
was. known to be the wealthiest city on the American continent, and although 
much valuable property had been carried away at the first approach of the 
fleet to the city, so much remained for the French invaders that .the esti¬ 
mates of the French collections make the amount to have been about forty 
million livres (about eight million dollars), a fact which shows what a fat 
plum for the freebooters was a Spanish city of the olden time. 

Whatever the amount, however, after it was all (including even the plate 
and decorations of the churches, which in spite of his smooth words had been 
taken by the Admiral) safely on board the French fleet, de Pointis an¬ 
nounced his intention of leaving, making as an excuse for his change of purpose 
that the country was so unhealthy his men were dying by the wholesale. So 
he went on board, forgetting his manners to that extent that he gave neither 
de Cassa nor the filibusters notice of his embarkation, took all his troops, 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


329 


and on May 25th evacuated the city. Still trusting almost against hope, the 
filibusters embarked and followed him, hoping to receive their share. The 
two fleets dropped down the harbor to its mouth, and then the open sea was 
in sight. De Pointis then announced that the accounts were complete, that 
calculations had been made, and from the best estimates the share of all the 
filibusters, colonists and negroes would be about forty thousand crowns, 
equivalent to twenty-four thousand dollars. This decision was graciously com¬ 
municated to de Casse, and by him given to the captains of the irregular 
troops. 

THE FILIBUSTERS CHEATED. 

To say that the filibusters broke into a savage rage at the announcement, 
inadequately expresses their feelings. They were not yet out of the bay, and 
between them and the open sea lay the Admiral’s fleet. So enraged were they 
that a proposition to attack the flag-ship, a great French man-of-war mounting 
eighty-four guns, was seriously discussed, and would have been attempted had 
not its hopelessness been apparent even to the most desperate They broke 
out into imprecations against de Pointis; he was a thief, he was no better than 
a common swindler. The filibusters had borne the burden and heat of the 
day; they had done all the fighting, and now were defrauded of their share of 
the plunder. 

De Casse explained and remonstrated in vain. He promised to secure for 
them redress in France, but they doubted his ability to do so. “ If he cannot 
keep de Pointis from cheating us here, how can he prevent our being cheated 
in France ? ” was a question to which there was no answer. But their rage 
soon found an expression in action. Somebody proposed that as de Pointis had 
secured everything and they could not take the booty from him, they should 
go back to Cartagena and help themselves. The idea spread like wildfire. 
“ Let the villain go; he has left our share at Cartagena, we will go back and 
get it.” With one accord the filibuster ship set sail and started back up the 
bay. De Casse ordered them to return; they laughed at him. He sent word 
to the Admiral of the intention of the filibusters, but de Pointis was eager to 
get away, for he knew what they did not, that an English fleet was daily ex¬ 
pected in the West Indies, and he was extremely desirous of getting his plunder 
to a place of safety. Besides he did not want to fight the enraged filibusters. 
He had seen with what desperation they could carry on a conflict, so he con¬ 
tented himself with saying to de Casse, “ Your men are great rogues, and 
ought all to be hanged,” and with this as the last word he, on June 1st, 
started for France with his plunder, leaving his recent assistants to do what 
they pleased. On the same day, de Casse set sail to return to San Domingo, 
and thus Cartagena was abandoned to twelve hundred men without officers, 
with no control, and deserted by all the persons whose duty it should have 
been to remain and restrain their lawlessness. The unfortunate inhabitants of 
Cartagena had assembled in the churches to return thanks for the departure 


330 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


of the robber fleets; they now crowded the wharfs and quays in a state of the 
utmost panic, on seeing the filibuster ships coming back, and remained in 
painful anxiety to ascertain the cause. It seems, their money having been 
taken, they anticipated nothing less than a general massacre, but the filibus¬ 
ters acted with more moderation than was usually their custom. As soon as 
they occupied the city, they seized all the male population and locked them up 
in the churches, then issued a proclamation to the effect that as they had been 
robbed by the French, so in turn they must equalize matters by robbing the 
Spanish, and concluded this interesting state paper by demanding five millions 
of livres, or one million dollars as the ransom of the city. If this were paid 
at once, they promised “ on the honor of gentlemen ” to leave without disor¬ 
der ; if it were not, they promised with equal faithfulness that the town should 
be burned, every man should be shot, and every woman and child carried off 
to Hispaniola in slavery. 

A SECOND PLUNDER OF CARTAGENA. 

It seems incredible that after the rigid demand for money which had 
been made by the French, the freebooters could have expected to get so 
much more, and still more incredible that they actually got it. They 
tortured some, and terrified others; they plundered the graves, ransacked the 
churches; probed every garden, explored every hiding place, and such was 
their diligence and success that in five days most of the sum mentioned 
had been accumulated, and the robbers were ready to depart. On the eve of 
their doing so, the usual quarrel broke out among themselves. The regular 
filibusters claimed that the colonists and negroes were but amateurs at the 
business of robbery, and therefore not entitled to the same amount of plunder 
that was due men of large experience and great ability. On the other hand, 
the colonists and blacks asserted that their fighting had been as valiant as 
that done by the filibusters, and that in every respect they were the equals 
of the freebooters and entitled to the same share of plunder. How far the 
controversy might have gone can never be conjectured, had it not been cut 
short by the arrival of a swift boat from Martinico, which had been sent 
expressly for the purpose of giving them notice that the English and Dutch 
fleet had arrived, and not finding the French and filibusters at Hispaniola, 
was then on its way to Cartagena. 

ESCAPE OF DE PONTIS, AND CAPTURE OF THE DISAFFECTED ROBBERS. 

This piece of alarming intelligence at once reconciled the difficulties 
between the freebooters and the colonists. The plunder was hastily divided ; 
each man received about twelve hundred dollars, while the captured negroes 
and merchandise were placed in the ships for a future division, and the expe¬ 
dition prepared to leave. By this time the allied fleet was very close at hand, 
and less than one hundred miles from the entrance to the bay sighted de 
Pointis, who was then on his way to Europe. But the French admiral had no 
mind to fight; the allied force was too large, he had too much at stake, and 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


331 


had no desire to risk the enormous booty which was now in the holds of his 
ships. So he ran away, and with a favorable wind in his quarter, outsailed the 
allies and escaped into the Atlantic. 

The French having thus eluded the English vessels, the allies directed 
their course to Cartagena, and arrived there just in time to sight the filibus¬ 
ters coming out of the harbor. The latter had destroyed all their smaller 
ships, and loaded themselves, their slaves and their plunder into nine of the 
largest, but scarcely had they sailed out of the bay, and were not yet out of 
sight of land, when they caught sight of the sails of the allied fleet on the 
horizon. The filibuster vessels scattered in nine different directions; it was 
“ every man for himself and the English take the hindmost.” Their two large 
ships were taken; two others, in the effort to escape, went aground near Car¬ 
tagena, and their crews fell into the hands of the Spaniards, who at once made 
slaves of them; one was blown up by a shot from an English gun, one was 
never heard of afterwards, and but three returned safely to Hispaniola. 

A SINGULAR APPEAL TO THE LAW. 

Of course the boot}^ captured by the English and Dutch fleet was com¬ 
pletely lost, and in despair at realizing nothing from so important and danger¬ 
ous an expedition the filibusters who returned from the Cartagena raid deter¬ 
mined as a last hope to institute legal proceedings in France against De 
Pointis and the subscribers who furnished the funds with which the fleet was 
equipped. Everyone knew that the plunder had been enormous, and everyone 
also knew that the colonists and filibusters who aided in the expedition had re¬ 
ceived nothing, for in their rage at the manifest swindle practised on them by 
the French admiral they had not waited to take even the petty allowance he 
announced as their portion. 

De Casse declared himself warmly in favor of the scheme for obtaining re¬ 
dress, indeed had committed himself to it as a means of pacifying the fili¬ 
busters when they were about to return to Cartagena. So an assessment for 
the necessary legal expenses was made among the parties interested, who were 
not only the filibusters and colonists who actually went to Cartagena, but 
planters who sent able-bodied slaves as soldiers, capitalists who supplied money 
for arms, uniforms, ammunition and provision, merchants who had extended 
credit to those who went, ship-owners who had hired their vessels for the 
transport of troops and had seen their property destroyed by the enemy’s 
fleet; in short, in the whole colony there was scarcely a man or a family 
but was in some way interested in the Cartagena spoils. 

It was a strange sight to see men whose lives had been spent in outraging 
the law appealing to legal forms to secure what they had been accustomed to 
take by force, and nothing more strikingly illustrates the degeneracy of buccaneer¬ 
ing than the spectacle of Buccaneers going to law. However, they carried their 
claims to court, De Casse returning to France to manage the case, and the best 
lawyers at the French bar were retained to advocate the cause of the freebooters 


332 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


and colonists. The claims were presented in a manner which appeared to 
establish their justice, but nevertheless decision was delayed many years and 
until most of those originally interested were dead, but was finally given, award¬ 
ing the filibusters and colonists 1,400,000 livres ($28,000) as their share of the 
Cartagena plunder. On a final settlement being made, however, it was discov¬ 
ered that costs, fees and lawyers’ charges exceeded this sum, as the brethren 
of the long robe did not then, any more than since, work for love of their 
fellow men, and instead of a division the plaintiffs were presented with a bill. 
It is not recorded that they paid it, but with its presentation perished the last 
hope of the colonists getting anything from the capitalists who had helped De 
Pointis to sail. 

AMBITIONS OF A DYING MONARCH. 

The Cartagena affair closed the history of both filibusters and Bucca¬ 
neers in the West Indies, and to this consummation the condition of affairs in 
Europe materially contributed. The peace of Ryswick, while it did not long 
continue, nevertheless lasted long enough to enable all parties to see the bad 
state of affairs in the West Indies, and to desire a cessation of the private 
wars which had been going on there for two hundred years. 

There was another consideration no less powerful. During the reign 
of Charles II of Spain, the last prince of the House of Hapsburg, wars with 
France had been almost incessant, but this King was now near the end of his 
days and both France and Austria were eager to conciliate the Spanish people; 
the former, that the throne might be secured for a grandson of Louis XIV; 
the latter, that Leopold I might place thereon an Austrian prince. The dying 
King had, it is said, made a will in favor of the latter, but the French Minister, 
by means best known to himself, procured a change to the grandson of Louis, 
a fact which made that monarch more than ever desirous of pleasing the 
people who were in future to be the allies of the French. In order to carry 
out his plan of conciliation, he went so far as to take from de Pointis the gold 
and silver vessels and ornaments which the latter had abstracted from the Car¬ 
tagena churches and to send them back, with his compliments, as a special 
favor to his good friends of that city. The Spaniards were delighted and this 
happy act, perhaps more than anything else, contributed to the success of the 
French candidate, who, under the name of Philip V, ascended the Spanish throne. 
The will of Charles, however, was disputed by Germany, England and Holland, 
and the result was the War of the Spanish Succession, which desolated Europe 
for thirteen years, gave Marlboro a reputation, and finally established a Bourbon 
prince on the Spanish throne. 

DANGERS THAT THREATENED THE BUCCANEERS. 

But the war which ruined Europe brought peace to America, for the Spanish 
and the French were now allies, and the English Buccaneers being already 
suppressed, the French followed suit by abolishing the occupation of the fili¬ 
busters. They were no longer allowed to fit out ships to prey on the Spaniard 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


333 


and although some of them, for a time, kept themselves in practice by plundering 
the English and Dutch, there was not much profit and no end of danger in 
the business, for both nations kept strong fleets in that part of the world and 
the Dutch and English captains had a habit of hanging filibusters as soon as 
caught, a little peculiarity which divested the calling of much of its old-time 
charm. 

Every inducement was offered by the French authorities to the filibusters 
to give up their roving ways and to settle down as quiet, useful citizens, and 
many of them did so. Some became planters; some established themselves on 
the isthmus among the Darien Indians with whom they intermarried; others 
were persuaded to become merchantmen in the seas through which they for¬ 
merly swaggered as freebooters. But, as Owen Meredith says: 

“Use and habit are powers 
Far stronger than passion in this world of ours,” 


and many of the filibusters finding work hard to get and harder to perform, 
disliking the monotony of steady employment, and retaining ships suitable for 



HOME OF THE REFORMED BUCCANEER. 

cruising, kept on their old courses. But the West Indies were now too hot to 
hold them and they scattered to other parts of the world as pirates—men more 
desperate than the Buccaneers, since their profession was more hazardous. 
Acknowledged outlaws, they preyed on ships of every country and were sought 
for with diligence by men-of-war flying every flag. 

But the pirates, the legitimate successors of the filibusters, were few in 
number, and, in comparison with their predecessors, did little damage. Some 
names among them attained a prominence in no way justified by their achieve¬ 
ments and several, like Lafitte, by making themselves of use in a time of need 
succeeded in winning a pardon from the government that availed itself of their 
services, but most of them were hunted down and exterminated before the begin¬ 
ning of the present century. 

THE LAST OF THE BUCCANEERS. 

The fall of the Buccaneer power in the West Indies not only closes one of 
the most remarkable movements recorded in history but also furnishes the most 


334 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


striking example of a lost opportunity. It was in the power of these men to 
establish a great independent state, but they let the time slip by; their leaders 
chose to be plunderers rather than founders. Under wise administration the 
bands of robber-hunters might have grown to an empire, comprising Central 
America and the West Indian islands, but the family element was lacking; 
neither Buccaneer nor filibuster had family ties to bind him to one place and 
the proverb about the lack of ability of the rolling stone to gather moss is as 
true of a community as of an individual. 

The days of the Buccaneers are gone forever. Save on the smallest scale 
and for a very limited time, neither buccaneering nor piracy is possible in any 
quarter of the world. The strength of men-of-war, the progress of geographical 
knowledge which has explored every nook and corner of the globe where a 
pirate could find a hiding place, the commercial spirit which renders the gains 
of trade larger than the rewards of robbery, the interlacing of lands together by 
means of cables and telegraphs by which intelligence can be flashed around the 
world in a few hourSp the use 'of steam by vessels designed for war, the employ¬ 
ment of long rangq^guns, the understanding among nations that hostile opera¬ 
tions, whether by land or sea, shall be carried on in a manner as humane as 
the nature of things will permit, have all combined to render buccaneering and 
piracy impossible and thus the tale of the Buccaneer exploits is one chapter of 
history which can never be repeated. 





CHAPTER XXXI. 


VOYAGE OF TASMAN. 

ISTORY has not definitely decided to whom 
is due the honor of discovering New Guinea, 
Java, Sumatra, the Celebes, or the Continent 
of Australia. The Chinese certainly had 
knowledge of all these lands long before the 
time of modern discovery, and Marco Polo 
makes mention of two great .islands to the 
south-west of Java, which could hardly be 
any other than New Guinea and Australia. 
De Torres sailed along the south shore of 
New Guinea in i6o6,"ahl?<passed through the 
strait which separates that island from Aus¬ 
tralia and which bears his name. But at that 
time he gained no important knowledge con¬ 
cerning the size of New Guinea, and believed Australia, as he viewed it, to be 
a cluster of islands. In October, 1616, a Dutch navigator named Theodoric 
Hertoge, on the way from Holland to the East Indies on a commercial cruise, 
fell in with land which proved to be the west coast of Australia, and in honor 
of the name of the ship in which Hertoge sailed, he called it “ The Land of 
Eendrecht.” But the discovery thus made was considered of such small import¬ 
ance that, although Holland was active in pushing her commercial and terri¬ 
torial conquests in and about the East Indies, no effort was made to extend 
the knowledge thus accidentally acquired by Hertoge until 1642, when the 
governor and council at Batavia fitted out two ships to prosecute discovery, and 
incidentally to ascertain the extent of the South Land. The command of this 
expedition was given to the great Dutch navigator, Abel Jansen Tasman, 
whose voyage proved to be the most important to geography, excepting those 
of Columbus and Cabot, that had been undertaken up to that time. 

In pursuance of his instructions, Tasman sailed from Batavia on the 14th 
of August, in the yacht Heemskirk, accompanied by the fly-boat Zeehaan. 
Proceeding first south-west by west, on the 5th of September he landed at the 
island of Mauritius for a store of wood and provisions. This land was discov¬ 
ered by the Portuguese in the year 1507 and named Isle of Cerna, but as it 
was not considered of much importance, being destitute of inhabitants and all 
animal life excepting a species of fruit-eating bats, they abandoned it, after 
which the Dutch claimed it as a possession in 1598 and named the island 
Mauritius. But though the Dutch built a fort on the bay shore they made no 

(335) 














336 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


effort at its permanent settlement and in turn abandoned it in 1710. Five 
years later the French took possession and changed its name to that of Island 
of France; but though they have retained it ever since, the Dutch designation, 
Mauritius, is the name by which it is still generally known. 

DISCOVERY OF VAN DIEMAN’S LAND, OR TASMANIA. 

Tasman remained at Mauritius until the 8th of October when, having taken 
on board a sufficient quantity of supplies, including several head of goafs and 
hogs, he set sail in a south-easterly direction and on the 24th of November 
discovered a bluffy shore of a considerable island which in honor of the 






NEW ZEALANDERS FIRST SEEN BY TASMAN. 
(From an old copper plate print.) 


Governor-general of Batavia, Tasman named Anthony Van Dieman’s Land; but 
owing to the foul weather the ships were not able to find good anchorage until 
December 1st, when they put into a fair harbor which Tasman named Frederik 
Hendrik’s Bay. Here the expedition remained three days taking a view of 
the country and making some excursions inland, but though evidences of 
human habitations were discerned not a single native could be seen. Departure 
from Van Dieman’s Land was made on the 5th, and after a sail of eight days 
directly eastward, other land was sighted to which Tasman gave the name 
Staaten Land, but which was re-christened by the Dutch New Zealand. Anx- 











UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


337 


ious to _ determine the size and importance of this discovery, Tasman coasted 
the shore for two days without making an effort to effect a landing, no doubt 
having some fears of the natives, the smoke from whose numerous fires was 
seen rising above the trees. 

On the 18th of December, Tasman came before the entrance of a promising 
harbor into which he sailed, but sent ahead of him two boats with twelve men 
to look for a safe anchorage and good watering place. Shortly after sunset, 
while the ships were riding at anchor, four boats were seen approaching the 
ships two of which were the returning crew, but the other two were canoes of 
great size containing nearly three scores of natives. These continued paddling 
towards the ships until they were within a stone’s throw when they stopped and 
could not be persuaded to come any nearer. After an exchange of words which 
neither could understand, the natives began blowing conch-shells and were an¬ 
swered by blasts from a trumpet by Tasman’s men, and this strange trumpeting 
continued until some time after dark, when the New Zealanders retired. On 
the following morning a canoe with thirteen men put out towards the ship, but 
these could not be induced to approach nearer than the others had done, 
though many things such as clothing, trinkets, hatchets and fish were held up 
to tempt them. As the natives appeared pacific and a supply of fresh water 
was needed, Tasman decided to move his vessels closer in shore, where there 

was still a good depth. Just as this move was about to be made, seven canoes 

were seen to make out towards the ships, one of which, containing thirteen men 
approached to within a dozen yards, when they hauled to and remained stolidly, 
still refusing to accept the presents that were offered to them. 

MURDERED BY NATIVES. 

Gerard Janszoon, master of the Zeehaan, who at the time was on the 
Heemskirk with Tasman, ordered his boat with a quarter-master and six sea¬ 
men to return to his vessel with instruction to his mates to keep on their 
guard, and to repel any attempt which might be made by the natives to board 
the Zeehaan. Scarcely had the small boat put off, when there was a lively 
signaling between the natives by means of paddles, which the Dutch were unable 
to understand, but which they did not connect with any hostile demonstration, 
and, therefore, continued on their way. The distance between the ships was 
scarcely two hundred yards, but when midway the natives made a rush at the boat 

and ran into it with such force that she heeled and took in water. At this 

moment a prowman in one of the canoes struck the quartermaster, Cornelius 
Joppe, such a violent blow on the neck with a pike that he was knocked over¬ 
board. This was the beginning of hostilities, in which the natives fought with 
paddles and short clubs, and being in great number, quickly overpowered the 
crew and killed four seamen. The guns of both ships were turned on the 
natives, who fled back to the shore, though none were wounded, and the 
quartermaster and his two men, who had been disabled by blows, but were still 
able to support themselves in the water, were picked up and saved. 

22 


/ 


338 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 



So vicious and unexpected had been this attack, while the natives appeared 
in almost incredible numbers on the shore, that Tasman weighed anchor and 
sailed out of the harbor, but he was pursued by thirty-two canoes until two 
lucky shots from his big gun raked one of the foremost, killing one man and 
letting the others into the water, where, however, they were picked up by their 
companions, and then all retired again to the shore. The place where this 
treacherous and fatal encounter with the natives occurred was named Murderer’s 
Bay, by Tasman, which name it still retains. 

After getting out of the harbor, Tasman proceeded along the west coast north- 


TASMAN PURSUED BY THE NEW ZEALANDERS. 

(From an old copper print.) 

ward, unable to find any suitable anchorage, or being deterred by the gathering 
of armed bodies of natives on the shore, until the 5th of January, 1643, when 
he found a small island some distance off the New Zealand coast to which he 
steered. After coming to anchor, a boat was sent ashore where a good supply 
of fresh water might have been obtained, but the sight of a party of thirty-five 
natives, armed with long lances and big clubs, deterred the boat’s crew from 
landing, and they retreated back to the ship. 

The island thus found was called the Three Kings Island, because it was 
discovered on the day of the Epiphany. Having now sailed to the north point of 







UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


339 


New Zealand, the vessels were directed in a north-easterly course, passing several 
islands, but making no landing until the 21st, when good anchorage was found 
at an island to which Tasman gave the name of Amsterdam, while within sight 
towards the south was another island which he named Middleburg, both being 
members of the group afterwards named by Cook the Friendly Islands. No 
sooner had the ships come to anchor off Amsterdam than three natives in a 
small boat approached near the vessels and saluted them with a vociferous 
shouting, which Tasman was unable to interpret, though at first he was 

inclined to the belief that it was a 
bold challenge; but as 110 other ca¬ 
noes followed this first one, an effort 
was made to conciliate these three 
bold adventurers, and quantities of 
white linen were thrown towards 
them. This induced the canoe to ap¬ 
proach closer, and as one of the 
bolts was rapidly sinking, a native 
jumped overboard and dived with 
great dexterity, reappearing at length 
with the bolt in his hand. After he 
had recovered the linen, the native 
regained the canoe and expressed his 
thankfulness for the offering by rais¬ 
ing it several times above his head. 

HOSPITABLE, BUT THIEVISH. 

Perceiving that their white vis¬ 
itors had no intention of harming 
them, the islanders now came up to 
the side of the ship and readily took 
such small articles as beads, fish¬ 
hooks, fishing lines, spikes, nails, and 
looking-glasses which were thrown to 
them. By this means an amicable 
exchange was established, which re¬ 
sulted most favorably to Tasman ; for 
he was soon able to secure hogs and fresh water in exchange for such things 
as he had to give the natives. Several canoes directly after put out to the 
ships, two of which carried white flags which were evidently intended as signs 
of peace, and their amiable manner induced Tasman to go on shore with a 
party of his men, where they spent considerable time with the natives and 
were presented to a grave old man whose position was that of king or chief 
of the country. Familiarity with the natives, however, soon made them too 
free in their conduct toward the whites, and presently several things of value 



Hkm ■- 


' “■ ‘ • ■''■■‘XL 


AN AMSTERDAM GIRL. 






340 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


were found to be missing and investigation discovered the fact that the natives 
had stolen them, and that, though at all times peaceably inclined, they were 
most consummate thieves; so expert, indeed, that Tasman declares it would re¬ 
quire a hundred eyes to prevent the rogues from bearing away anything 
which might be for a moment deposited upon the ground. The Dutch did not 
remain long on shore, but returning to the ships were followed by twenty ca¬ 
noes loaded with natives, some of whom went on board the vessels at Tasman’s 
invitation, and nearly a dozen spent the night on the ships, trusting themselves 
confidently to their white visitors. 

In the course of a three days’ visit at Amsterdam, Tasman received in ex¬ 
change for spike-nails, sail-cloth, beads, etc., as much as forty hogs and seventy 
fowls, besides which, the natives assisted him in filling all his casks with fresh 
water, and gave him other atten¬ 
tions which were both grateful 
and important to men who had 
been so long at sea, living off 
the frugal fare which they had 
before been unable to replenish. 

These people possessed no arms 
of any kind, so far as Tasman 
was able to perceive, nor did they 
have any idea of tobacco either 
for chewing or smoking. The 
women wore a covering of mat- 
work reaching from the middle 
to the knees, but the men wore 
nothing beyond that which na¬ 
ture had provided. 

A long stay would probably 
have been made at Amsterdam, 
but for the effects of a heavy 
storm which drove the Heems- 
kirk from her anchorage and so far out to sea that the Zeehaan had to go to 
her aid. There being nothing to detain them longer at this island Tasman 
proceeded on the voyage, sailing in a northerly direction, and probably touch¬ 
ing at the Navigator or Samoan Group. He mentions discovering a large num¬ 
ber of islands, to a few of which only he gave names, so that it is with extreme 
difficulty, if at all possible, to follow the exact course that he took. 

AN UTOPIAN REPUBLIC. 

On the 2.5th of January a landing was made at Anamocka, or Rotterdam 
Island, which was an extremely fertile spot, but upon which was discovered a 
total population of only sixty or seventy men, none of whom had arms, but 
their condition seemed to be an extremely happy one. It was evident from 



UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


341 



the gardens which they cultivated and the peaceful manner in which they lived 
that they had no enemies to contend with; and here in this Utopian republic 
this little party of savages manifestly lived more happily than people in what 
are considered happier climes and under more civilized conditions. In common, 
however, with all the Pacific Islanders, these people had the one besetting fault of 
being thieves, and that they knew the evil of their acts was shown by the 
fact that they made a public exhibition of placating the white people for an 
article that had been appropriated by beating the offender upon the back with 

a cocoanut until he fell in a faint 
from the administration. The people 
had no religion, nor did they practise 
any kind of divine worship, for there 
were no idols, relics, or priests to be 
seen on the island. But that they 
entertained some superstitions was evi¬ 
denced by perceiving one of the natives 
take up a water snake, which he found 
near his boat, and which he respect¬ 
fully put upon his head and then re¬ 
turned it again uninjured to the water. 
They appeared also to have some rev¬ 
erence for flies, which existed in such 
great numbers as to be a veritable 
plague. The steersman of the Heems- 
kirk accidentally killed a fly in the 
presence of one of the principal natives, 
who showed extreme anger at the act. 

After leaving Rotterdam the course 
of the vessels was changed westward 
through a group of islands in which 
coral reefs extended almost from shore 
to shore, so that the ships were in con¬ 
stant danger of being wrecked. For¬ 
tune and skilful steering, however, 
served to carry them through in safety, 
and on March 24 landing was made on another island in longitude 175 degrees 
and thirty minutes. As some natives were seen approaching from the shore an 
anchor was cast to give them opportunity to approach the vessel. A canoe 
with seven men, without any signs of fear, came alongside of one of the ships 
and offered Tasman a quantity of cocoanuts of a wild' kind in exchange for 
which they were given three strings of coral and several nails. The people 
were naked except a piece of cloth, apparently of cotton but probably of cocoanut- 
fibre, which was wound around the waist. They are represented by Tasman as 


A ROTTERDAM ISLANDER. 



342 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


being blacker than the inhabitants of the islands which he had before visited; 
nor were they so civil or friendly in their behavior. A few had their hair 
cut short, while on others it was long, but bound up in a knot on the crown 
of the head like the New Zealanders with whom he had come in contact at 
Murderer’s Bay. One man had two feathers on the crown of his head, which 
projected in fanciful imitation of horns. Another had rings through his nose, 
but what they were made of Tasman was unable to determine. They were 
also armed with bows and arrows, and one carried a long lance. They seemed 
to be anxious for the Dutch to visit their island, but their general hostile atti¬ 
tude decided Tasman to bear away without extending the acquaintance any 
further. Continuing westward the next land noted was Green Islands, a name 
which, however, was given them by Captain Carteret more than a hundred 
years later; for, though the record which Tasman has left reports the discovery 
of hundreds of islands, he was so neglectful of his duty as a navigator as to 
frequently omit to give their location or bestow upon them any names, so 
that it is to the later voyagers that we are indebted for nearly all the infor¬ 
mation that we possess of the islands of the Malay Archipelago. 

AMONG THE NEW GUINEANS. 

On the 2nd of April, Tasman came in sight of an island to which he 
gave the name of Anthony Kaan’s, which is supposed to have been a part of 
the coast of New Guinea. He stood off the shore until the following day, 
when some of the natives approached near enough for him to obtain a pretty 
accurate view of their appearance, and ’it is upon the description which he 
gives of these native visitors that leads to the conclusion that it was New 
Guinea, instead of a small island which he intimates the land was. It was 
his duty to land and make an investigation of the shores which he was coast¬ 
ing, but Tasman seems to have been actuated by constant fear of the natives, 
even when they appeared in inconsiderable numbers. 

On the 6th of April, he tells us, eight small canoes approached within a 
few hundred yards of the ship, but could not be induced to draw nearer until 
the quartermaster took off his girdle and held it up in an enticing way, at which, 
one of the canoes came to the ship. These first adventurers were rewarded 
by several presents, at which the others became bolder, and were finally induced 
to exchange cocoanuts, yams and pork for such things as Tasman had to 
barter. The natives were as black as Hottentots, and their hair was of different 
colors, produced by powdering it with lime and ochre. The lower part of 
their faces was also painted red, while a few had a bone as large as a little 
finger thrust through the septum of their noses. For covering, they wore 
nothing more substantial than a few green leaves bound around the middle; 
nor did any of those approaching in the canoes bear arms. Yet Tasman was 
suspicious of them, and refused to accept their invitation to land and visit 
their chief. 

The voyage continued without further interruption until the 20th of April, 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


343 


when the ships passed along the shore of Vulcan Island, which he so named 
because of the fires which he reports to have seen burning on the sea sides of 
a mountain, which indicated to him that the island was thickly inhabited, and 
would have been an inducement for him to land but for a very strong current 
that set in from the westward, so as to make anchorage extremely hazardous. 

A FIGHT WITH THE NATIVES. 

On the 25th following, the ships drew near shore again and were approached 
by a great many small canoes, in all of which there was a quantity of cocoa- 
nuts, which the natives proffered in exchange for any articles which Tasman 
might have. A considerable barter was carried on to the mutual satisfaction 
of both parties, but Tasman was still determined not to trust himself in the 
hands of the natives, and therefore, instead of going on shore, as a more 
courageous explorer certainly would have done, he remained by his ships, occa¬ 
sionally casting anchor, but generally proceeding under slow sails. 



THE SHORES OE NEW GUINEA. 


On the 27th, several large canoes carrying about twenty men each, armed 
with pikes, bows and arrows, and harpoons, approached the ship with great 
confidence, and upon invitation the natives came on board with a large number 
of cocoanuts. The people were black and naked, but apparently hospitably in¬ 
clined, and showed great anxiety to have their visitors come on shore and see 
their chief. But Tasman continued to betray his lack of courage, and this seems 
to have ultimately angered the natives; for on the 3d of March a number of 
them being on board, and others about the ships in small canoes, they betrayed 
considerable uneasiness, and at length one of the natives fired an arrow at a 
seaman, striking him in the thigh, producing a very painful wound. At this, 
the seamen beat hastily to quarters, and a volley of musketry was turned loose 
among the natives, with no other damage, however, than the wounding of one 
in the arm. The others fled precipitately, those on board leaping into the 
water, where they were picked up by their companions. The firing of the guns 
so alarmed the islanders that their actions were thereafter extremely conciliatory, 














344 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


and they offered to surrender up the man who had fired the first arrow. But 
Tasman was more anxious to escape what he considered to be a dangerous 
situation than to punish the native offender, and raising sail he left the place 
with all possible speed. The rest of Tasman’s journal gives no more than a 
bare mention of the several islands which he passed on his return trip to Bata¬ 
via, where he arrived on June the 15th, having been absent less than one year. 
Three years later, he undertook another voyage, but his records were so imper¬ 
fect and his accounts so meagre that nothing has been preserved by which we 
can follow him accurately or determine what lands he visited, or the re¬ 
sults of his expedition. His first voyage was important for the discoveries 
which he made of Van Diemen’s Land, New Zealand, and several islands of the 
Pacific. But had he fully improved his opportunity and kept a journal descrip¬ 
tive of all the lands that he saw, and made a visit among the peoples, who no 
doubt would have hospitably received him, the results would have been very 
much more beneficial, and he would have been correctly estimated as the first 
voyager of the century. 



CHAPTER XXXII. 


EXPEDITION OF SIR FRANCIS DRAKE. 



FTER the return of the few survivors of Magellan’s 
expedition, with such sorry report of their suf¬ 
ferings, and death of their brave commander, 
for a long while little was done towards estab¬ 
lishing direct trade with the East Indies except 
some feeble efforts put forth by the Portuguese 
in that direction, and for fifty years the route 
opened up by the daring Magellan was of small 
advantage to any nation. In the meantime New 
Spain, or South aud Central America, monopo¬ 
lized the attention of the Spaniards who, after 
Balboa’s discovery, and the passage of Magel¬ 
lan’s Strait, established many settlements along 
the Pacific coast, chiefly in Chili. Gold and 
silver were found in great quantities, not in 
mines, but already in bars and ornaments 
wrought by the natives, and from their owners 
forcibly appropriated. The precious metals therefore became an object of 
prime contention in New Spain and lured thither bold adventurers who fell 
little short of being pirates and highwaymen, for what could not be found on 
the seas was sought for in the interior, and thus robbery went on until 
security there was none except for more powerful bodies. 

Portugal and Spain, though ostensibly friendly governments, were never¬ 
theless involved through rivalry, while England exhibited no small animosity 
over the apportionment made by the Pope of the new lands discovered, as 
already described, and her disregard of the papal bull and desire for acqui¬ 
sition of new territory at length led to open conflict with Spain, as will 
be presently described. 

Queen Elizabeth had been for some time jealous of the power and 
riches acquired by Spain in the New World, but was anxious to avoid open 
conflict with her rival, and hoped to gain by adroitness what a more 
impulsive ruler would have attempted to obtain by open force. An oppor¬ 
tunity presented itself when Sir Francis Drake made a tender of his 
services to the Queen, with a declaration of his purpose to make a voyage 
of discovery in the South Sea, even in violation of the assumed exclusive 
rights of Spain and Portugal under grants of donation by Pope Alexander VI. 

( 345 ) 







346 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


THE INTREPIDITY OF DRAKE. 

Drake was, of all men of his time, best qualified for the enterprise which 
he had proposed, combining as he did the intrepidity of his prototype of later 
years, Paul Jones, and with no less courteous instincts and unconquerable 
determination. Drake’s proposition to enter the South Sea could not be publicly 
countenanced by Elizabeth, as such a course would have precipitated a conflict 
with Spain, but as she 
foresaw the advantages 
which must arise from a 
successful expedition such 
as proposed, she gave a 
secret approval of the 
plans, and commended 
their expediency. It has 
been said, though without 
the best of proof, that the 
Queen gave Drake a royal 
commission, but she was 
certainly too subtle to place 
herself in such an equivo¬ 
cal position, and therefore 
her approbation was most 
likely the only sign of the 
royal favor. But even her 
approval of the enterprise 
was a long step towards 
war with Spain, because 
Drake could scarcely have 
avoided the charge of pro¬ 
posing a freebooting expe¬ 
dition. His appearance in 
the sea over which Spain 
and Portugal claimed ex¬ 
clusive jurisdiction must 
be the signal for attack, 
for that he would be op¬ 
posed was certain, and in 
this assurance Drake pre¬ 
pared himself accordingly. More than this, knowing that the Spaniards were 
wresting booty from the natives of New Spain, he was resolved to profit by every 
advantage which offered, and to acquire treasure wherever he might find it, even 
to the taking of it from Spaniards themselves. The expedition was therefore 
either a piratical one, or else undertaken under the Queen’s letters of Marque 
to make reprisals from any Spanish vessels found upon the high seas. 


















UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


347 


SECRECY OBSERVED BY DRAKE. 

Drake wisely refrained from revealing his destination, for otherwise the 
Spanish government might enter protest, while the terrible sufferings of Haw- 
kin s crew, the death of Magellan, and more recent disasters, would make it 
difficult to secure seamen for such a voyage as he really intended. He accord¬ 
ingly publicly announced it as his purpose to make a voyage to Alexandria, 
and to give greater plausibility to his declaration, he fitted out a squadron of 
five vessels whose size was so small that they were hardly suitable for lake ser¬ 
vice. These, which were provided by Drake’s friends, were as follows: The 
Pelican, of ioo tons, was the flag-ship of the squadron ; The Elizabeth, a bark 
of 80 tons, Captain John Winter; The Swan, a bark of 50 tons, Captain John 
Chester; The Marigold, a bark of 30 tons, Captain John Thomas; and The 
Christopher, a pinnace of 15 tons, Captain Thomas Moone. O11 these vessels 
was a crew of 164 men. 

Some surprise was expressed at the vast quantity of provisions and ammu¬ 
nition which was taken on board, and that the frame-work of four pinnaces, ready 
to be put together, should also be provided for such a short voyage. But 
against these suspicious precautions were the diminutive vessels, and a comple¬ 
ment of men none too great to properly man them. 

DANGERS IN THE SOUTH SEA. 

The boldness required to undertake a passage of Magellan’s Strait, even 
after it had been once successfully traversed, was probably greater than that 
originally exhibited, because of the disasters that had attended later attempts. 
De Solis had been murdered by the natives at the mouth of the La Plata while 
en-route for the strait. Magellan fell a victim to extraordinary courage, while De 
Lope who, from the top-mast of a ship in Magellan’s fleet, first discovered the 
strait, met with a yet more terrible fate, in the opinion of all good Catholics, for 
he renounced his religion and became a Mohammedan. In addition to these dis¬ 
asters, nearly all of the commanders and the greater part of the crews that had 
sailed on the South Sea had either met death at the hands of natives or perished 
from disaster, hardship and anxieties which attended them on their voyage. 
These real and imaginary dangers were greatly increased by superstitions which 
represented the strait as having been closed by God to prevent further adven¬ 
turing into the South Sea, where every horrible thing in man’s imagination 
was believed to exist to destroy those making bold to sail its dangerous waters. 
But Drake, iu addition to being an uncommonly bold man, whose spirit was 
most active in desperate undertakings, was all the more anxious to enter upon 
the exploration of the South Sea because of the dangers which were said to con¬ 
front those sailing upon it. In addition to providing himself with a cargo of 
provisions which would likely last his crews for at least two years, he appre¬ 
ciated the value of shows and pageants, by which he hoped not only to impress 
the crews that accompanied him, but also the natives whom he would come in 
contact with. The furniture and equipage of his ships were therefore splendid, 



348 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 



while the cooking utensils which he carried were generally of silver, and the 
tableware of gold or curious workmanship. Besides these, he took with him a 
band of musicians, appreciating the effect which music would produce upon the 
natives, and its exhilarating influence upon men when depressed by any anxie¬ 
ties. Thus while his fleet consisted of very small crafts, their equipment in 
large measure compensated for the otherwise sorry condition which they would 
have presented. 

THE DEPARTURE ON A PIRATING CRUISE. 

Having completed his arrangements Drake set sail from Plymouth on the 
15th of November, 1577, but almost immediately encountering a gale he was 
compelled to put back 
to Falmouth to make 
some repairs to the Pel¬ 
ican and Marigold, both 
of which had received 
considerable injuries by 
being driven on shore. 

It was not until the 
13th of the following 
month that they were 
able to depart again, but 
meeting with no further 
mishap they reached the 
coast of Barbary on the 
27th, where a halt was 
made to fit up one of 
the pinnaces for service. 

Here the fleet, encoun¬ 
tering difficulty with the 
Barbary Moors, put to 
sea again on the 31st, 
and on the 17th of Jan- 
uary, 1578, reached Cape 
Blanco, where Drake 
brought into port two 
Spanish caravels which 
he had captured on the 
way. Here a halt of five 
da)^s was made in order 
to drill the crews in sir francis drake. 

the manual of arms and to otherwise prepare them for battle both on sea and 
on land, as Drake manifested a determination to capture every Spanish mer¬ 
chantman that he might find upon the high seas, thus giving color of piracy 
to his expedition at the outset. 




































UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


349 


From Cape Blanco the squadron sailed to Mayo, where they fell in with a 
Portuguese ship bound to Brazil laden with wine, cloth and general merchan¬ 
dise. This vessel Drake also captured and gave the command to a Mr Thomas 
Doughty, another equally bold spirit, whose fate however was most deplorable 
as will be afterwards described. Only one other stop was made after the 
departure from Mayo until the fleet came in sight off - a point of the Brazilian 
coast called Cape Joy. Here they put into harbor on the 5th of April, and on 
the morning following they discovered large fires on the shore around which 
were gathered a number of natives who were observed going through various 
incantations and the offering of sacrifices. These ceremonies, as was afterwards 
ascertained, were performed with the hope that their gods might avert the dan- 



SCENE ON THE LA PLATA RIVER. 


ger which the ships seemed to threaten. The natives had never before seen 
any ships and supposed them to be terrible monsters risen from the sea in the 
night for the purpose of devouring or otherwise destroying them. Before the 
day expired a violent storm, accompanied by vivid lightning and deafening thun¬ 
der, on the other hand, led the superstitious sailors to believe that it was owing 
to the diabolical arts of the natives that the storm had been raised. On account of 
the fear thus entertained for each other the sailors had no intercourse with 
the natives, nor did the fleet remain long about Cape Joy though the climate 
was represented as mild and salubrious and the soil rich and fertile. Troops 
of wild deer of gigantic size were seen on this part of the coast and footprints 
of men of giant stature were traced on the ground. But on the following day, 

















350 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


the 7th, the ships proceeded southward and on the 14th anchored within the 
entrance of the La Plata river. The fleet then sailed up the river a distance 
of probably a hundred miles, but finding it growing constantly fresher, the}’’ 
discovered the fact that they were in a river instead of a strait, and retracing their 
course continued their journey southward again. On the 27th the Swan was 
separated from the fleet and ten days later the Portuguese prize was also lost 
and not discovered again for more than a week afterwards. 

IN CONTACT WITH THE INDIANS. 

On the 12th of May Drake entered a safe harbor at forty-seven degrees 
south, and the next morning put off in a boat to explore the bay. Directly 
after his departure a thick fog settled down which completely hid him from the 
vessels and for a considerable time there appeared great danger of his destruc¬ 
tion. But by good fortune he managed to reach the shore where he discovered 
Indians, headed by a chief who was dancing and shaking a rattle, with the evident 
intention of inviting the strangers to visit his village which lay a short distance 
off. Not being prepared, however, to encounter a hostile force, which Drake 
feared this party might prove, he lay by till morning, and the fog in the 
meantime drifting, he returned to the vessels, and procuring a white flag sent it 
to the Indians as a token of amity and a desire to have them approach. B}^ 
gradual advances an intercourse was directly established which resulted in great 
benefit to Drake, for the Indians proved very hospitable and provided the 
strangers with great store of dried ostrich flesh, and in return were sent several 
presents such as were calculated to attract the curiosity of the natives. After 
the ships had remained in the harbor a few days the party of Indians first seen 
was augmented by the arrival of a very large number of others, all of whom, 
however, exhibited great hospitality and desire to show their friendship for their 
white visitors. These natives are represented by Drake as being very handsome, 
strong, agile and alert. Their only covering was the skin of an animal which 
was wrapped about the middle when walking, and thrown carelessly around the 
shoulders while they were squatting or lying on the ground. Their bodies too 
were painted in a variety of colors and after a grotesque fashion. But this 
decoration was not so much due to vanity as to the service which the paint 
rendered in protecting their bodies from the cold. In addition to such presents 
as bells, cutlery and similar bright and attractive wares which were given to the 
natives, Drake also sent the chief a bottle of wine which pleased him very 
much, though at the first smell of the contents it apparently intoxicated him. 
After that, as long as the fleet remained in the harbor, the natives were incessant 
in their importunities for more wine. 

A BATTLE WITH THE PATAGONIANS. 

On the 3d of June the fleet sailed out of the harbor, which has been named 
Seal Bay, and on the 12th they put into another bay, where they remained 
for two days, taking their stores from the prizes which they had made, and 
then sent the Portuguese vessel adrift. This anchorage was in the vicinity of 



UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


351 


Cape Horn, where after remaining for nearly three days they proceeded on 
to Port St. Julian where several of the crew going on shore they found the gibbet 
still standing upon which Magellan had executed some of the rebellious and 
mutinous members of his crew fifty years before. On the following day the 
ships having been safely moored, Drake and some of his officers went off in a 
boat to examine the coast and on landing were met by two men of immense 
stature who gave them, by signs, a friendly welcome. These two were of the 

Patagonian tribes described by 
Magellan, and having been pre¬ 
sented by Drake with a few tri¬ 
fles they set off, but directly re¬ 
turned again with several others 
of their people. The most hos¬ 
pitable feeling was constantly 
exhibited by the Patagonians, and 
very soon the natives and the 
members of the crew were on 
the most amicable terms. The 
English were armed principally 
with bows, a weapon which the 
Patagonian was also familiar with, 
and a trial of skill was made at 
which the Englishmen so far ex¬ 
celled that one of the Patagonians 
became jealous and with menac¬ 
ing gestures told the crew to 
leave the island. A Mr. Winter 
(not the captain of the Elizabeth), 
who accompanied the expedition, 
showed displeasure at this inter¬ 
ruption, and partly in jest, but 
also to exhibit earnestness, he 
drew his bow with the intention 
of discharging an arrow to show 
the power of his weapon; but the 
strain was so great that the bow¬ 
string broke, and while he was in the act of repairing it, the natives discharged a 
shower of arrows, two of which wounded him severely, one in the shoulder, the 
other in the side. At this Mr. Oliver, who carried a gun, aimed his weapon at the 
attacking party but it missed fire, and he in turn was pierced through with an ar¬ 
row, and fell mortally wounded. At this critical moment Drake ordered his men 
to protect themselves by means of the shields which they carried and to advance 
upon the Indians, at the same time to break every arrow that was discharged at 
















352 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


them lest they might be recovered and used a second time. As the English 
advanced Drake seized a gun, and taking aim at the man who had killed 
Oliver, used it with such precision that he shot the native in the stomach, giv¬ 
ing him a very painful wound and causing him to cry out in such agony that 
the rest of the natives taking alarm fled precipitately. Mr. Winter was borne 
off at once to the ships, but the body of Oliver was left until the following 
day when a company was sent to recover it. They found that the body had 
not been molested during their 
absence except that an arrow 
had been thrust into the left eye 
and the clothes had been partly 
stripped off, which had been 
placed under the head of the 
corpse. Mr. Winter seemed to 
recover the second day after his 
wounds, but again grew worse, 
and five days later died. 

TRIAL AND EXECUTION OF CAPT. DOUGHTY. 

This unfortunate affray, 
which appears rather the conse¬ 
quence of misunderstanding than 
design, was soon afterwards fol¬ 
lowed by a second even more 
deplorable incident. While the 
fleet lay in the Port of St. Julian, 
charges were brought against 
Captain John Doughty, who had 
been placed in command of the 
Portuguese prize, and he was 
brought to answer, before a court- 
martial, on a charge of conspir¬ 
acy and mutiny. Specifically, 
the charge was that of conspir¬ 
ing to massacre Drake and his 
principal officers, and after thus 
enfeebling the expedition, to take possession of the ships, and enter either upon a 
voyage of discovery or piracy. The details of the charge and inquiry are both scanty 
and entirely insufficient to base an opinion respecting the guilt or innocence of 
Mr. Doughty. Accounts have appeared both apologetic and condemnatory of 
Drake, while others have sought to show that Air. Doughty was a gentleman 
incapable of harboring such designs as had been charged against him. But 
whatever may have been the merit of his fate, Mr. Doughty was adjudged 
guilty by a jury of his countrymen, and condemned to death, leaving the man- 



SAVAGE ATTACK OF THE NATIV 














UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


353 


ner of his execution within the discretion of the commandant. Drake very 
magnanimously permitted the condemned man to select either of three judg¬ 
ments : to be abandoned on the coast, taken back to England to answer the 
lords of the Queen’s council, or to be executed on the island. Mr. Doughty 
choose the latter, only asking that he might before his death receive the holy 
communion with the captain-general, and that he might die the death of a gen¬ 
tleman. In accordance with these desires, Drake received the sacrament with 
the condemned man, and afterwards dined with him, the dinner being charac¬ 
terized by great sobriety, and at its conclusion they took their leaves by drinking 
to each other as if some great jollity was about to be begun. Being now pre¬ 
pared for his fate, Doughty walked forth with brave step, and a countenance 
which bespoke submission to his fate, and only requesting the bystanders to 
pray for him he submitted his neck to the executioner’s axe. The body of 
Mr. Doughty was buried with those of Mr. Winter and of Mr. Oliver upon the 
island in the harbor, above which was erected a stone on which the chaplain 
cut the names of the unfortunate Englishmen and the date of their burial. 

INCIDENTS IN THE PASSAGE OF THE STRAIT. 

By the breaking up of the Portuguese prize, and the loss in the storm of 
two of the pinnaces the fleet was now reduced to three, and being supplied 
with wood and water and other necessaries they sailed from Port St. Julian on 
the 17th of August, and on the 20th they entered the Strait of Magellan, thus 
having passed around the greater portion of Terra del Fuego before discovering 
the entrance. At the entrance on the east side the strait was found to be 
about three miles broad, and on either side the land lay bare and flat. No 
natives appeared on the south side, but several Indians were observed making 
great fires along the northern laud, but they offered no opposition, nor did they 
give intimation of any desire to come into close relation with the voy¬ 
agers. The fleet proceeded carefully through the strait, making occasional 
stops, at which times the crews would go on shore and kill penguins, the 
flesh of which is said to have been as savory as that of English goose. Three 
thousand of these birds were slaughtered in a few days, the bodies of which 
were dried, and these provided food for the expedition for several months. 
After passing some miles within the strait the land on both sides rose up in 
perpendicular walls to a vast height until their peaks were white with the 
snows that never melted. The weather, too, was very cold, from which the 
crews suffered considerably, but it did not interfere with their progress, and 
in two weeks’ time the passage through the strait was accomplished. Near 
the western exit the fleet was brought to an anchorage near an island, while 
Drake went into a boat to explore the opening of the South Sea. Here Drake 
claims to have met with a pigmy race of Indians (now known to have been 
Terra del Fuegans, a race small of stature, though by no means pigmies, 
unless they be compared with the Patagonians), who were discovered in a canoe 
close at hand evidently fishing. After going on shore he came in contact 

23 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


354 


with a considerable village of these people, whose huts, like their canoes, were 
constructed of the bark of trees, which they also ingeniously used in forming 
vessels for domestic use. The tools of these pigmies were made of mussel 
shells which were very plentiful in the waters along the straits. But what 
was most surprising the natives had means of tempering these shells and 
making them sufficiently hard to cut bone or any substance short of iron. 

On the 6th of September Drake attained the long desired happiness of 
entering the South Sea, fortune having favored him incessantly from the time 
he left Falmouth 
and which had 
enabled him to 
make a passage 
of the strait in 
less than a 
fourth of the 
time required for 
Magellan to tra¬ 
verse it. 


DRIVEN OUT TO SEA 
AND LOSS OF THE 
MARIGOLD. 

After enter¬ 
ing the ocean he 
directed his fleet 
in a north-west 
course, where, 
having proceed¬ 
ed 70 leagues, 
he was overtaken 
by a violent and 
steady gale, 
which drove his 
vessels over 200 
leagues to the 
west of the strait. 



TERRE DEE FUEGANS FISHING. 


On the 24th the weather moderated, and the wind shifting they were enabled to 
partly retrace their course, and after seven days standing to the north-east, they 
discovered land, but were not able to come to an anchorage. While beating about, 
endeavoring to find a harborage, the wind rose violently again from the same 
quarter, and drove them out to sea again, where the fleet became separated; 
the Elizabeth and the Pelican (the name of which latter was changed to 
Golden Hind after the ship had passed the strait, in honor of Sir Christopher 
Hatton, who was one of Drake’s patrons) were united a day later, but the 
Marigold was blown out to sea, and was never again heard of. On the 7th of 












parted, and she was for a third time driven to sea, while it was impossible for 
the Elizabeth to give her any assistance. Captain Winter was so disheartened by 
these misfortunes that he sailed back, with the intention of entering the straits, 
and thence secretly returning home. But many of the crew, objecting to such 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 355 

October, the Golden Hind and the Elizabeth entered a bay near the western 
entrance of Magellan’s Strait, which Drake named The Bay of Parting Friends ; 
and here it was the intention to lie by until the weather improved. But on the 
same night the violence of the wind was so great that the cable of the Hind 


LOSS OF THE MARIGOLD. 












356 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


heartless abandonment of Drake, the captain was finally induced to put into 
Port Health, so called by reason of the rapid recovery of the crew which had 
been enfeebled by its hardships and the disease which in consequence had 
spread among them. 

A MASSACRE, AND HORRIBLE SUFFERINGS OF THE SURVIVORS. 

Drake in the meantime was carried back to 55 degrees south, and 
expediency admonished him to run in among the islands along the coast of 
Terra del Fuego, where he re¬ 
mained during the severe season 
and replenished his provisions 
by the capture of a large num¬ 
ber of seals. Here a pinnace 
was set up and made ready for 
sea; but another violent gale 
coming on, she was driven into 
the open ocean with eight men 
that composed her crew. This 
little vessel, fortunately, wea¬ 
thered the gale, but being una¬ 
ble to return to the coast of 
Terra del Fuego, proceeded 
northward to the region of the 
La Plata, and there, the crew 
being nearly famished, they 
made for the shore, and six of 
the number were sent in quest 
of food. Upon, landing they 
were, however, almost instantly 
attacked by a party of Indians, 
and all were wounded with ar¬ 
rows. Four of them were made 
prisoners by the natives, but two 
escaped and contrived to join 
their two comrades who had 
been left in charge of the pin¬ 
nace. These the Indians pur¬ 
sued, but they were beaten back, and the vessel was able to put to sea 
again, leaving their four wounded companions in the hands of the 

Indians, who probably directly massacred them. The Englishmen now 
made for a small island about nine miles from the mainland, where the 
two who had contrived to escape from the native assailants died of their wounds, 
there being now left only two, destitute of food, in a wild land, and with a boat 
which they were incapable of managing on the sea. While they had been. 


















UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


357 



exposed to great calamities from the time of their separation from the Elizabeth, 
the hardships which they were now to endure very greatly exceeded those which 
they had previously suffered. A storm came up and dashed to pieces the little 
pinnace which they had anchored on the shore, thus leaving them on a desolate 
island, destitute of nearly everything calculated to render life supportable. 
They obtained food from eels and small crabs which they were occasionally able 
to capture, and they found a considerable quantity of a fruit resembling an 
orange; but they were unable to find fresh water, and their sufferings from 
thirst were so dreadful that they were reduced to an extremity too painful and 
revolting to be here described. After a two months’ existence on this island, 
the two men discovered a plank ten feet long which had drifted from the Rio 
de la Plata, which served as the nucleus for a raft upon which they embarked, 
and after three days of incessant paddling, they contrived at last to reach the 
mainland. Peter Carder, one of these survivors, thus relates his experience 
upon reaching the shore: “ At our first coming on land we found a little river of 
sweet and pleasant water, where William Pitcher, my only comfort and com¬ 
panion, although I dissuaded him to the contrary, over-drank himself, being 
perished before with extreme thirst; and, to my unspeakable grief and discom¬ 
fort, died half an hour after in my presence, whom I buried as well as I 
could in the sand.” The sole survivor roamed about in the woods for a few 
days until taken by savages whose life he adopted, and lived with them in comfort 
until he was captured by the Portuguese. His sojourn in South America was 

! for a period of nine years, after which he was permitted to return to England, 
where he had the honor of relating his adventures before Queen Elizabeth, who 
suitably rewarded him for the hardships which he had experienced. 







CHAPTER XXXIJI. 



AN ATTACK IN WHICH DRAKE IS WOUNDED- 

ETURNING to Drake, his ship, the Golden Hind, 
was again driven from her moorings, and kept 
at sea for a considerable while until he had com¬ 
pletely doubled the cape and discovered the 
union of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. 

On the 28th of October the Elizabeth 
also came to harbor near the point of Cape 
Horn, thus having beaten around in almost 
the same course as that over which the 
Golden Hind had been driven. And being 
unable to come up with Drake the Captain, 
now thoroughly discouraged and thinking his companion 
lost, sailed up the coast of Brazil and in the following year returned to Eng¬ 
land with report that Drake had probably been lost, which report seemed 
substantiated by his prolonged absence. The severe season having ended, and 
the weather become somewhat calm, Drake turned the course of his vessel 
again westward, and doubling the cape, set sail a second time northward, follow¬ 
ing as closely as was advisable the main coast. 

On the 25th of November the expedition anchored at the island of Mocha, 
which is along the coast of Chili, where Drake landed and was pleased to dis¬ 
cover large numbers of cattle and sheep, and to see promising crops of maize 
and potatoes. The Indians whom he met on this shore appeared pacific in their 
demeanor until two of the seamen were sent in quest of water, when they 
were set upon and killed, and others going to their assistance were fiercely 
assailed with arrows and stones, and the whole more or less severely wounded, 
among the number being Drake himself, who was struck with a stone in the 
face and on the head. Being unable to carry on satisfactory intercourse with 
the natives, who were too strong in number to be successfully opposed, Drake 
set sail again on the 30th of November, and anchored in a bay about 30 de¬ 
grees south, where he sent out a boat to examine the shores, and finding a lone 
Indian fishing in a canoe, captured him and brought him on board. By very 
kind treatment, and the presentation to him of many trinkets, his confidence was 
gained, and being sent on shore, he induced many of his people to enter into 

(358) 











UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


359 


exchanges with the crew, by which Drake was enabled to secure poultry, hogs, 
and a quantity of fruits. While lying in this harbor Drake learned through 
one of the Indians that at the port of Valparaiso, which was only six leagues 
distant, there lay at anchor a Spanish vessel which was believed to contain a 
quantity of gold and silver. Upon receipt of this information he at once 
determined to make an effort to qverhaul the Spanish galleon and putting on 
a spread of canvass, succeeded in coming up and capturing her without difficulty, 
and in examining her cargo was pleased to discover 60,000 pesos ($60,000) 
of gold, besides jewels, merchandise, and 1770 jars of Chili wine. Having 
taken the vessel and appropriated her contents, the'crew of Drake’s ship entered 
the town, which consisted of only nine families, and there engaged in a general 
pillage of wine, bread, bacon, and such other things as they could find to refresh 
themselves, or as they thought sufficiently valuable to carry on board. Some of 
the crew entered a small chapel of Valparaiso, which they plundered of a silver 
chalice, two cruets, and an altar-cloth, which were presented to Mr. Fletcher, the 
chaplain of the fleet. 

On the 8th Drake set sail again with his prize, but taking only one of the 
crew, named Griego, who was capable of piloting them to Lima. Up to this time 
Drake had been on the lookout for the Marigold and the Elizabeth, for the Hind 
being too large a vessel to run near the coast, put in at Coquimbo, with tbe 
intention to set up another pinnace to conduct the search more thoroughly in the 
smaller bays into which it was possible one of the missing vessels had taken re¬ 
fuge from the frequent storms that visit that region. But scarcely had the 
English landed and sent a watering party of fourteen a little distance from the 
shore when they were surprised by a body of Spanish, consisting of 300 horse 
and 200 foot. All but one of the English succeeded in making their escape by a 
precipitate retreat; one seaman, however, fell a victim to his braggadocio and fool¬ 
hardiness. . 

THE CAPTURE OF A WONDERFULLY RICH TREASURE. 

Leaving Coquimbo, Drake proceeded a few miles further, and entering a 
safe harbor he set up a pinnace in which he himself embarked to make a search 
for the lost ships ; but the wind soon becoming adverse, he was compelled to 
return to his own vessel. They continued thence northward until accidentally 
landing at a port called Tarapaza they found a Spaniard lying on the shore 
asleep and beside him thirteen bars of silver. These latter the English quickly 
appropriated, and without waking the sleeping treasurer they proceeded further 
north to secure water, where they fell in with a Spaniard and an Indian, both 
driving eight llamas, each of which was laden with leather bags containing fifty 
pounds of silver. These animals, sometimes called Peruvian sheep, were used 
among the Indians as beasts of burden, as the Arabs use the camel to-day. But 
thongh well adapted as carriers in that rough country, yet in later years they have 
been discarded and mules substituted. These two remarkable finds led the crew to 
suppose that the coast of Peru was literally strewn with gold, while pure silver, they 




360 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


believed, was found so richly mixed with the soil that every hundred-weight of 
common earth yielded, on a moderate calculation, five ounces; and it must be 
confessed that they had some good reasons for entertaining such a belief, 
remarkable as it was. 

AN EXCITING CHASE. 

After the precious prizes that had been secured from the eight llamas had 
been brought on board, the Golden Hind entered the port of Arica, where three- 
small barks lay, which we)*e easily rifled, as the crews were on shore, in no wise 
apprehensive of danger. Having spoiled the barks, the Golden Hind put to 
sea again in pursuit of a vessel which was said to be richly laden, and con¬ 
cerning which Drake had obtained intelligence from an Indian where they had 
last landed. The ship which he now started to pursue had in some manner 
obtained notice of the proximity of Drake, and set out with great expedition 
with its precious freight of 800 bars of silver, the property of the King of 
Spain. In order to expedite his purpose Drake now prepared for active measures 
by ridding himself of every incumbrance, turning loose the small sails which 
he had captured, as described, to drift withersoever the winds might carry them. 
Now spreading all the canvas that he could crowd on the Golden Hind, he pushed 
on towards Lima, for which port the treasure-ship was bound. 

The Spanish galleon, however, had time to land her freight of silver and 
to despatch overland to the governor of Lima tidings of the appearance of 
English ships on the coast. Notwithstanding these precautions Drake was able 
to surprise the Spanish ships lying at Callao, the port of Lima, on the 13th of 
September. But on none of these did he find any considerable treasure, and 
his only compensation for such a prolonged and expensive pursuit was the re¬ 
ceipt of information that three days before, the Spanish ship Cacafuego, laden 
with treasure, had sailed for Panama, the point from which all goods were car¬ 
ried across the Isthmus. Without any delay Drake set out in pursuit of this 
vessel and as a measure of precaution the mainmasts of the two largest prizes 
found in the port were cut away ; the cables of the smaller ones were severed 
and the goods and people being previously removed, the whole were abandoned 
to the mercy of the winds and waves so that pursuit from these would not be 
feared. 

CAPTURE OF ANOTHER RICH GALLEON. 

Having thus crippled the Spanish ships at the port of Callao, Drake bore 
northward under full sail, so intent on overtaking the treasure-ship that when 
the wind lulled his vessel was towed by boats which his crew rowed with a will. 
But notwithstanding his despatch and determination, there was so little wind 
that the Golden Hind still remained in sight of the port of Callao nearly two 
days. This interval enabled the Viceroy at Lima to prepare a force of two 
thousand horse and foot, and two vessels were put in sailing order as expedi¬ 
tiously as possible, in which two hundred fighting men were embarked. These 
now set out in all haste, intent on the capture of Drake, who was at this time 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


361 



evidently believed to be a Spanish pirate. But scarcely had they gotten under 
way when a fresh gale sprung up which enabled the English ship to easily 
outstrip her pursuers, especially when the crews of the latter had not used the 
precaution to provide themselves with provisions that would enable them to 
make a sail of more than one or two days. Upon their return three other 
ships were equipped and despatched, but they arrived too late, and being un¬ 
able to overtake the Hind put into a bay and there waited a period of nearly 
two weeks the return of Drake, which was confidently expected. But in this 


CAPTURE OF A RICH GAIXEON. 

they were deceived. The pursuit continued and on the 24th of February the 
Golden Hind crossed the Equator with the Cacafuego still so far ahead as to be 
unseen. But to quicken the hopes of his crew Drake offered as a reward to 
whoever should first descry the prize, the gold chain which he wore, which 
prize was gained by Mr. John Drake, who at three o’clock in the afternoon of 
the 1 st of March, from the mast-head discerned the prize ship less than a league 
distant. The capture was easily made owing to the fact that the captain, a 





























362 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


Biscayan named Anton, seeing a vessel approaching him under pressure of sail 
concluded that the Viceroy had sent him some important message, to deliver 
which a ship had been sent to overhaul him. Anton therefore struck his sails 
and awaited the approach of the Golden Hind. When aware, from closer in¬ 
spection, of his mistake, he made an effort to escape, but his discovery was not 
made until he was within reach of Drake’s guns. Not possessing any defensive 
weapons he was at the mercy of the pursuer, which shot away his mizzenmast 
and wounded Anton, and thus compelled his surrender. The prize-ship gained 
was of extraordinary value, the ship having a cargo of thirty-six tons of silver, 
thirteen chests of ryals of plate, and eighty pounds of gold, besides diamonds 
and inferior gems, the value of the whole being estimated at $720,000. 

DRAKE CONCEIVES A NEW AMBITION. 

The capture of this prize might have induced a less ambitious man than 
Drake to abandon his original project of making discoveries in the South Sea, 
and caused him to return home where he might have enjoyed, the remainder 
of his days, the rich gains thus acquired. But Drake was more ambitious than 
he was covetous, and though he had thus gained a fortune, he was more 
desirous of earning a lasting reputation by discovering a north-west passage, 
which had been the ambition of so many distinguished voyagers before him. 
Having thus formed his plans, he’ unfolded them to his company in such an 
eloquent manner that he inspired them with an enthusiasm similar to that 
which he felt himself. In fact, Drake possessed the unbounded confidence of 
his company to such a degree that they were ready to blindly follow him in 
any undertaking which he might propose. Having unfolded his purpose, he 
said to his men, “ our next object shall be to seek out some convenient place 
to trim the ship, and store it with wood, water, and such provisions as can be 
found, and thence forward to hasten our intended journey for the discovery of 
the said passage, through which we may with joy return to our longed homes.” 

Having thus resolved upon a new enterprise, Drake set sail for Nicaragua, 
and on the 16th of March he came to anchor in a small bay on the west side 
of the island of Canno. Here the Golden Hind remained for eight days, 
replenishing her stores while Drake examined papers which had been captured 
from the last ship taken, among which was discovered a letter from the King 
of Spain to the governor of the Philippines, and also sea-charts which after¬ 
wards proved of considerable use to the English. Having repaired his ship 
and taken on an abundant supply of water and provisions, Drake continued 
his course northward. He overhauled another Spanish vessel on the 6th of 
April, from which was captured a considerable quantity of silk, linen, porce¬ 
lain, and the image of a falcon wrought of gold, in the breast of which was 
a large emerald. This latter valuable Drake retained for himself, but divided 
the other things captured fairly with his crew. Ten days later, the expedition 
put into the coast and sacked a small village, from which, however, a very 
small quantity of spoils was obtained. Here also the Portuguese pilot, Nuna 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


363 


Silva, who had been taken with one of the prizes, as already described, was 
set at liberty, and afterwards made his way back to Spain where he wrote an 
account of his unfortunate adventure with Drake. 

AMONG THE NATIVES OF CALIFORNIA. 

On the 16th of April the fleet moved northward again, and on the 3d of 
June had gone 1400 leagues, beating about in different courses, without dis¬ 
covering any land. Having reached a latitude of 43 degrees, the cold was be¬ 
coming so severe that meat froze almost upon the instant that it was removed 
from the fire. They now sought a bay which they fortunately discovered on 
the 5th, and there took shelter until the weather had somewhat moderated. 
But proceeding again, they made another landing on the 17th of June on the 
western coast of California, entering a bay, which is supposed to have been the 
harbor of San Francisco. When the Hind approached the shore several natives 
were seen coming down, headed by an ambassador, who put off in a canoe, and 
by gesticulations appeared to offer a hearty welcome to the ship. He finally 
approached the vessel, and after delivering himself of an oration, returned 
again to the shore, and receiving some articles, consisting of a bunch of feathers 
and a basket of rushes, he brought these back and offered them as tributes 
to Sir Francis Drake. The crowd on the shore continually augmented until 
quite a thousand had collected. The men were entirely naked, but the females 
wore a sort of petticoat composed of rushes and the inner bark of trees, which 
they had hackled until it had the appearance of hemp. Upon opening the 
basket which had been brought by the ambassador Drake discovered that it 
contained an herb which the Indians called tabah , but which has since been 
ascertained to have been tobacco, Europeans not being familiar with the product 
at that time. From this fact, it is maintained that Drake was the first to in¬ 
troduce the use of tobacco among Europeans. 

THE CAMP ON SHORE. 

The weather continuing’ cold, and the ship having sprung a leak, Drake 
decided to take advantage of the excellent harbor which was now afforded, and 
to go into camp on shore until the warm season advanced, utilizing the time 
also to repair his vessel. When the Indians observed the English preparing to 
spread their tents on the shore, they gave exhibition of suspicion and dissatis¬ 
faction, but they laid aside their bows and arrows when requested to do so. 
Finding the English peaceably disposed, a further exchange of presents was 
made, and friendship was soon established. When they retired again in the 
evening, the Indians seeking a high elevation 011 which their huts were built, 
they set up a great howling and lamentation which lasted throughout the 
night. The voices of the females rose high above those of the men, proving 
plainly that they were suspicious of some appalling calamity befalling them 
through the instrumentality of the white visitors. Drake seems to have had some 
fears also of hostility from the natives, and to provide for his security, he be- 


364 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


gan an intrencliment of the tents, and threw up some fortifications which would 
enable him to resist an attack of the natives, if they decided to make one. 

On the following day, however, no Indians were to be seen, but two days 
later they reappeared in greater numbers, when it was observed that an orator 
opened the ceremonies which were about to take place by making a long 
harangue or proclamation to his people. As he spoke, frequent exclamations 
of approval were heard, and at the conclusion, a deputation struck their bows 
into the earth, and bearing gifts of feathers and rush-baskets of tobacco, de¬ 
scended towards the fort. As the deputation approached the English, the 
women, who had remained behind on the elevation, set up anew their shrieks 
and howls, and began to tear their flesh with their nails, and to dash them¬ 
selves on the ground with such violence that their bodies were soon bruised 
or bleeding from the cuts they had thus received. This ceremony was after¬ 
wards understood to be the orgies of their idol or demon worship, performed 
for the purpose of insuring the favor of the spirits which the Indians believed 
to preside over them. Seeing the women thus violently mistreating themselves, 
and the deputation approaching, Drake ordered his company to sing psalms, or 
some simple chants of the Old Church, which had a remarkable effect upon 
the simple Indians. They seemed to be deeply affected and so charmed that 
they afterwards repeatedly requested their visitors to sing to them. 

DRAKE RECEIVES THE INDIAN KING. 

After another exchange of presents, the Indians a second time withdrew, 
and did not show themselves again until the 26th, when two heralds or couriers 
arrived at the camp of the English, asking an audience with Captain Drake 
to convey to him a message which they were sent to deliver by their hioh , or 
King. One of the couriers with great exhibition of majesty delivered himself 
of a long harangue before Drake, and in concluding requested tokens of friend¬ 
ship and assurance of safe-conduct for the King who had a desire to visit the 
white men. These were, of course, given, and directly after the native King 
approached in all the glory of his native majesty. Immediately preceding him 
was the club-bearer, who was a tall and handsome man of noble presence. His 
club, the mace of office, was quite five feet in length and made of a wood re¬ 
sembling ebony; the larger end was ornamented with a net-work of a thin, 
bony substance, curiously and delicately wrought. He had also with him a 
basket of tabah , or tobacco. The King followed immediately behind his club- 
bearer or chief minister, and was in turn succeeded by a man of giant stat¬ 
ure, who exhibited a majesty of appearance which struck the English visitors 
with amazement. Next came the royal guard, consisting of a hundred picked 
men, all of them tall and martial looking, though clothed in skins. A few wore 
head-dresses made of feathers, and others of a soft substance which they gathered 
from a plant peculiar to the country. The King was distinguished from his 
officers by wearing over his shoulders a robe made of skins of a species of 
marmot, or possibly prairie dog. Behind the royal guard were the common 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


365 



people, all painted in a variety of patterns, and feathers generally sticking out 
of their hair. The women and children, who brought up the rear, each carried 
a propitiatory gift of a basket containing either tobacco, broiled fish, or a sweet 
root which the natives ate with a great relish. 

SINGULAR CEREMONIES, AND KINGLY INVESTITURE. 

The royal cavalcade was such a large one that, to provide against possible 
surprise, Drake assembled his men under arms, within his fortification and in 
a block-house which he had erected. When the procession had approached 
within a few paces of the fortification, it stopped, and after a deep silence of a 
few moments, the minister or club-bearer began a harangue which lasted fully 


CROWNING OP DRAKE BY THJ5 KING OP CALIFORNIA. 

half an hour, after which he commenced to chant, keeping time in a slow, 
solemn dance, but performed with a stately air, in which at intervals the King 
and the warriors joined. Seeing that their intentions were peaceful, and 
that the Indians had a real desire to establish friendly relations with their 
visitors, Drake at length admitted the crowd into the fort, their approach be¬ 
ing made by singing and dancing. After these ceremonies were concluded the 
King took off a crown of feathers which he wore, and placed it upon the 
head of Drake, by which ceremony he meant to invest him with the insignia 
of royalty,—at which all the natives hailed him as King. Songs of tri¬ 
umph were then raised, as if in confirmation of this solemn cession of sov- 



















366 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


ereignty. The probability is that the real intention of the King was, by such 
investment of authority, to show his desire to honor the whites by making 
Drake equal to himself while the company was visiting him. Drake evidently 
accepted it in this spirit, and he took possession of the country in the 
name of his sovereign, thereafter claiming that it had been ceded to him by 
the original or lawful owners. 

The ceremony having been completed, the natives distributed themselves 
about the fort, showing great admiration for every unusual thing which their 
eyes beheld, and rendered idolatrous homage to their visitors by frequently 
throwing themselves at their feet and embracing their legs. After some time 
thus spent in camp the Indians formed a circle about the whites, and while 
gazing intently upon them, began to howl and tear their flesh till bloody 
streams covered their bodies, this being their method of demonstrating the 
strength of their affection for their visitors. 

DESCRIPTION OF THE INDIANS AND THEIR VILLAGES. 

Afterwards Drake visited some of the villages of these natives, where he 
was hospitably received and royally entertained. The men were robust and 
powerful, and their strength was equal to that of two ordinary seamen. For 
weapons they used bows and arrows, but they were of little use and practical 
only in hunting very small game which permitted of a close approach. Their 
dwellings were of a circular form, built of rushes and generally roofed with 
pieces of wood joined together at a common centre and sometimes terminating in 
a spire. But in every case fully one-half of the house was under ground, while 
the fire was placed in the middle and beds of rushes spread on the floor, by 
which means the natives were able to make themselves comfortable in the most 
inclement weather. The country abounded in vast herds of deer and a small 
species of cony, which Drake declares had heads and faces like rabbits in 
England, while their paws were like those of the mole, and their tails were 
like those of rats ; under their chin on each side was a pouch, w’hich served as 
a store-house for meat to feed their young with, or to serve themselves in times 
of scarcity. The natives ate the flesh of these little animals and greatly prized 
the skins, which they converted into state robes such as were worn by the King 
in his interview with Drake. 

The Admiral named this fertile country New Albion, and erected a monu¬ 
ment of his discovery to which a brass plate was nailed bearing the name, 
effigy and arms of her majesty, Queen Elizabeth, and asserting her territorial 
rights and the date of possession. 


CHAPTER XXXIV. 

A VOYAGE TO THE EAST INDIES. 

RAKE spent thirty-six days on the coast of 
California in the most agreeable manner, but 
having at length completed his repairs, on the 
24th of Jufy he sailed away from the harbor, 
which he named Fort Drake, taking with him 
the good wishes and many kind expressions 
from the natives, who were deeply moved by 
his departure. While the ship remained in 
sight the natives kept fires burning on the 
heights as a farewell offering or sacrifice for 
the prosperity of the journey. 

Drake set sail northward again, but find¬ 
ing the weather increasing in severity he 
abandoned the idea of reaching a higher 
latitude and turned his ship westward with 
the unanimous consent of his company, having abandoned his resolution to 
seek for a north-west passage for the new intention of returning home by 
way of India and Cape of Good Hope. For sixt} r -eight days he continued without 
once catching a glimpse of land. At length, when his crew were beginning to 
despair, he fell in with some islands on the 13th of September in about eight 
degrees north latitude. These lands proved to be occupied, and as the Golden 
Hind came to anchor many natives came off in canoes, containing fourteen men 
each, bringing with them cocoanuts, fish and fruits to barter with their white 
visitors. Their canoes were ingeniously formed, and hollowed out of a single 
tree, and were so high in the stern and prow as to be nearly semicircular, while 
the exposed parts were prettily ornamented in curious designs and various colors. 
The islanders showed not the least fear of the English, and when they were 
permitted to come on board the ship they did not hesitate to purloin any 
article which they were able to conceal. But instead of punishing them for 
their thieving propensities, as Magellan did, Drake merely refused to hold 
further traffic with them. This so excited their displeasure that several of the 
natives surrounded the vessel and the men began a vigorous attack with stones. 
With the hope of frightening them off Drake caused a cannon to be fired over 
their heads, which had the desired effect for a time. But perceiving that it did 
no injury the islanders returned to the attack, and to protect himself from 
serious injury Drake was at length compelled to send several charges of shot 

(367) 










368 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


among them. This retaliation caused the survivors to beat a precipitate retreat, 
and during the few days that Drake remained off the coast they did not again 
show themselves. 

On account of the thieving propensity of these natives, Drake called the 
land thus discovered the Islands of Thieves, a very appropriate term not only 
because of their habits, but because of their forbidding appearance as well. The 
ears of the natives were terribly disfigured by the insertion of stones or pieces 
of round wood into the lobes, 
the weight being increased 
until at length the tip of the 
ear would rest upon the 
shoulder. Their teeth were 
also as black as jet, from the 
coloring matter in a powder 
used for that purpose. The • 
nails of their fingers were also 
allowed to grow more than an 
inch in length, so that alto¬ 
gether the islanders were most 
ferocious in their appearance, 
and little less so in their con¬ 
duct. These islands have since 
been named the Pelew, by 
which they are known in 
modern geographies. On the 
16th of October following, the 
Golden Hind reached the 
Philippines, first anchoring off 
the shore of four islands that 
were thickly populated. But 
it was not deemed prudent to 
venture on shore, as the ap¬ 
pearance of the natives was 
by no means inviting. 

RECEPTION TOTHEKING OF TERNATE. 

Setting sail again, on the 3d canoes ok the pelew islanders. 

of November the Moluccas were (From an oid copper prim.) 

seen, and the Golden Hind steered for Tidore; but before reaching that island, 
Drake learned, through a messenger who came off to him in a boat, that the Portu¬ 
guese had fixed their headquarters at that place, and to avoid conflict with 
these, Drake accepted the invitation of the King to visit his capital. Here 
he was most cordially received by a messenger bearing kind expressions from 
the King, and to whom Drake sent as a present a fine velvet cloak. As 























UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


369 



the ship was at anchor, the King also put off to pay it a visit, and to assure 
Drake of his desire to have him remain a considerable while on the island. 
The King was no doubt actuated less by the spirit of friendship than by 
policy of expediency; for he was in constant dread of the Portuguese, and 
he thought that Drake might afford him some protection against the pos¬ 
sibility of an attack from that quarter; for which reason, he received the 
Englishman with manifestations of the greatest cordiality, and presented him 
with a signet which would provide for his safe conduct in any of the islands 
over which his authority extended. The King’s visit was made in a royal 
barge of magnificent equipment, accompanied as he was by three smaller 
barges occupied by distinguished persons of his retinue. The natives were 


ROYAI, BARGE OF THE KING OF TERNATE. 

all dressed in flowing robes of white muslin, while as they sat in the seats 
of the barges they were protected from the sun by a canopy or awning 
of perfumed mats, which were supported on a frame-work of reeds. Next to 
the personal attendants of the King were several ranks of warriors, armed with 
dirks and daggers, and these were again encircled by the rowers, of which there 
were eighty to each barge, placed in galleries raised above the other seats, three 
on each side. The motion of the rowers was accompanied by the clashing of 
cymbals, which produced a martial sound and imposing show. As the King 
advanced, the guns of the Golden Hind thundered a salute, while Drake 
assembled the band of musicians that embarked with him from Plymouth, and 
24 















370 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


received his majesty with martial music. Instead of coming directly on board the 
ship, the King caused his canoes to be paddled round and round the vessel, 
evidently gratified by the signs of power and magnificence exhibited by the 
English, and especially pleased with the music, the first which had, perhaps, 
ever greeted his royal ears. 

PUNCTILIOUS ETIQUETTE OF THE KING’S COURT. 

At the time of Drake’s visit, this native king had expelled the Portuguese 
from the island of Ternate, and had also subjugated the people of seventy 
other islands in a group over which he now held sway. He had also been 
converted to the faith of Mohammedanism, which he made the established 

religion of his dominions. The court main¬ 
tained by this sable ruler was a punctilious 
one, and might have been patterned after 
those of European monarchs. His cour¬ 
tiers and attendants never approached his 
presence without an exhibition of most 
profound respect, no one being permitted 
even to speak to him except from a kneel¬ 
ing posture. After the King had been 
received, and made a hasty inspection of 
the ship, he returned to the shore; but 
on the following day came again, bearing 
as presents for the English crew fowls, rice, 
sugar, cloves, and sago. 

The third day the King did not visit 
the ship, but sent his brother to make ex¬ 
cuses for his failure to appear, and to con¬ 
vey a royal request that Drake should visit 
his Majesty in his royal quarters, the 
brother offering to remain as a hostage for 
the safe return of the captain-general. 
While the invitation was a cordial one, and every manifestation thus far made 
indicated friendly intentions, Drake yet had fears of some treacherous purpose 
and refused to accept it. But several of his crew went on shore, and upon 
landing were received with a pomp which had been intended to grace the 
entrance of Drake into the capital. Another brother of the King and a party 
of nobles conducted them to the royal residence, which stood near a dismantled 
fort from which the Portuguese had been expelled two years previously. When 
the English sailors reached the capital, they found there an assemblage of at 
least a thousand persons, sixty of whom were said to be privy councillors. 
There were also four Turkish envoys, dressed in robes of scarlet, who were 
then at the court of Ternate concluding a treaty of commerce. The King 
was guarded by twelve lancers, while over his head was carried a splendid canopy 











UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


371 


embroidered with gold. His raiment was also a robe of gold cloth, hanging 
loosely about his person. His legs were bare, but his feet were covered with 
slippers made of Cordovan leather. Around his neck hung a heavy chain of 
gold, while his hair was ingeniously decorated with fillets of the same metal, 
and his hands sparkled with many bright jewels. At his side stood a page, 
mechanically wielding a fan two feet in length and one in breadth, which was 
embroidered and adorned with sapphires, and fastened to a staff three feet 
long. When the King understood that Drake was not among the party who 
had thus visited him, he exhibited some impatience and irritability, and treated 
the sailors who had thus ventured into his presence with considerable disdain. 

ANIMAL LIFE ON CRAB ISLAND. 

The King paid no further visit to Drake or attention to the ship while it 
lay in the harbor, and, fearing that hostility might develop from the disregard 
with which the King’s invitation had been treated, after procuring a supply of 
provisions and a considerable quantity of gold, the Golden Hind left the Moluc¬ 
cas on the 9th of November, and five days later anchored at Crab Island, which 
is one of the Celebes. This island was found to be uninhabited, but afforded 
abundance of water, and here the crew went into camp on shore and repaired 
their ship for the homeward voyage. The sojourn at Crab Island proved to be 
an extremely pleasant one, as it afforded every means of enjoyment outside of 
the delights of civilization. The island was small in size, but marvellously fer¬ 
tile, producing all kinds of tropical fruits, and while there were no natives, 
their absence was compensated by the great abundance of other animal life. 
Drake says that about the trees flitted innumerable bats that were as large as 
hens, while the night was fairly aflame with shining flies which swarmed about 
the trees in such great numbers that frequently the whole forest appeared to 
be on fire. There were also great numbers of land-crabs, so large that the body 
of one was sufficient for a meal for four persons. They were described as a 
sort of cray-fish, living in holes dug in the earth, from which we know that 
they must have been of the robber or cocoa-nut species frequently met with in 
all the East India islands. The bats spoken of by Drake were the flying foxes, 
not quite so large as a hen, but which had a formidable appearance when on 
the wing, their size being equal to that of a squirrel. 

AN ACCIDENT TO THE SHIP. 

On the 12th day of December the Hind departed from Crab Island, and 
sailing westward soon got among some islets and shoals, on one of which the 
vessel struck with great violence, running upon a coral reef with such force that 
the vessel was lifted half out of the water and there left suspended for three 
days. Fortunately, no leak was sprung, and a heavy wind prevailing from the 
lee side kept the vessel from turning over. Their condition was now so alarm¬ 
ing that the crew were summoned to prayer, after which solemn duty a united 
effort was made to float the vessel. She was loaded with rich treasure, some of 
which must now be sacrificed to lighten her. Accordingly a quantity of 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


372 


meal, eight of the guns, and three tons of cloves were cast into the sea. But 
this produced no visible effect, as the ship continued fast as before. When 
hope seemed to have been entirely abandoned, on the fourth day the wind 
slacked, and when the 'tide was at the lowest ebb it veered to the opposite 
point, when the vessel suddenly reeled to her side in such a manner that she 
floated off the rock without damage, an incident so remarkable that Drake con¬ 
sidered it to have been a miracle. It was some weeks afterwards before the ves¬ 
sel emerged from the great number of small islets and dangerous reefs where 
it had become entangled, and on the 8th of February they came to anchor before 
an island called Booton, a pleasant and fruitful place, in which was found gold, 
silver, copper, and sulphur. It also produced great 
quantities of such fruits and vegetable products 
as ginger, long-pepper, cocoas, nutmegs, sago, etc. 

The island was also occupied by natives whose 
disposition and manners were both mild and 
friendly, and in their dealings and behavior they 
excited the admiration of the English. The men 
were naked, save a kind of turban which they 
wore on the head, and a piece of cloth about the 
waist. But the women wore a light coverlet 
about the middle, extending to the ankles, while 
their arms were loaded with such ornaments as 
they were able to fashion out of bone, horn, and 
brass. 

AMONG THE PEOPLE OF JAVA. 

Leaving Booton, Drake sailed for Java, which 
he reached on the 12th of March, where he re¬ 
mained for twelve days, enjoying the hospitalities 
extended to him. At this time the island was 
divided into five dependencies, governed by 
as many chiefs or rajahs, who, instead of showing any jealousy, lived in 
perfect amity, and vied with each other in their courtesies to the English 
visitors. The Javans were found to be people of good size and other physical 
perfections, and while they were extremely hospitable, they were also bold and 
warlike upon occasion. They had for weapons swords, bucklers, and daggers 
of their own manufacture, the blades highly tempered, and the handles richly 
ornamented. They also wore armor sufficient to protect them against arrows, 
and this was also a great protection in case of hand-to-hand conflicts. The 
upper part of the bodies of the men was left uncovered, but from the waist 
downward they wore garments of silk of many pleasing colors. In each village 
there was a public hall where the people used to meet twice a day to partake 
of a common meal and enjoy the pleasures of conversation. Refreshments of 
many kinds were there served, each person partaking providing a part of the 
food that was thus set on a common table. 



A WOMAN OF EOOTON. 








UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


373 



While the crew of the Hind enjoyed themselves greatly during their stay 
at Java, yet the desire to reach home increased until, however generous was 
the treatment they received, their home-sickness increased ; and they left this 
favored climate oil this account much earlier than they otherwise would have 
done. On the 15th of June, they doubled the Cape of Good Hope without 
meeting any difficulties, though around this cape all the dread of the sailors 
had centred, owing to the exaggerated stories told of the storms and perils 
which were always to be encountered in making a voyage about that point. 

These stories 
were evidently 
toldfor the pur¬ 
pose of deter¬ 
ring adven¬ 
turers from 
entering into 
these waters, 
in which, up 
to the time 
of Drake’s 
voyage, Portu¬ 
gal had retain¬ 
ed a monopoly. 

Not deeming 
it expedient to 
halt at the cape 

Drake continued on around and up the coast until on the 22d of July he arrived 
at Sierra Eeone. Here he came to anchor, and obtained a supply of water and 
refreshment, of such fruits as the country afforded. It was here also that he 
found great quantities of oysters which, he declares, were discovered hanging 
and spawning on the trees and increasing wonderfully. But remaining here 
scarcely two days, the vessel again departed, and on the 25th of September, 1580, 
Drake returned to Plymouth after an absence of two years and ten months. 


JAVANESE CANOES. 






CHAPTER XXXV. 


HONORED AS A HERO YET CONDEMNED AS A CORSAIR. 



HE safe return of Drake from an expedition 
that had been attended with such glorious re¬ 
sults was hailed throughout England as an 
event of supreme national importance, for, al¬ 
though more than one-half of his crew had per¬ 
ished, and only two of the ships originally sent 
out had survived the disasters of the long voy- 
age, yet Drake brought back with him a large 
amount of treasure and opened a highway for 
English commerce with islands and South 
American territory whose trade had previously 
been exclusively in the hands of the Portuguese 
and Spanish. Queen Elizabeth, while for polit¬ 
ical reasons refusing to give open recognition 
to the enterprise which Drake had so success¬ 
fully accomplished, nevertheless privately re¬ 
ceived him with the greatest favor. 

The English people everywhere, understanding the real feelings which 
Elizabeth entertained for Drake, made him the hero of a hundred epics, and 
fawned and flattered him as far as the power of speech and action could go. 
There were others, however, whose commercial relations with Spain made it to 
their interest to deprecate his actions, who complained bitterly of the manner 
in which he had destroyed Spanish shipping and appropriated by force all 
the treasures that fell into his hands. They contended (and not without 
reason) that as England and Spain were at peace, such action branded Drake 
as a corsair, and demand was made for restitution of the property which he 
had acquired on his expedition. These objectors had such influence that at 
length Elizabeth, to avoid open rupture with Spain, caused the sequestration 
of the spoils which Drake had made, and after a year’s litigation restored a 
considerable portion of the booty to Spanish claimants. But this small action 
in no wise conciliated Spain, who now prepared to make reprisals from the 
.English, which soon afterwards led to the equipment of the Spanish Armada for 
the invasion of England, the final results of which are so well known to all 
readers of history. 

A BANQUET ATTENDED BY THE QUEEN. 

An open recognition and public reception were not accorded to . Drake by 
Elizabeth until the 4th of April, 1581, nearly one year after his return, when 

(374) 










UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


375 


she went on board the Golden Hind, which had been lyitig at the port of Dept¬ 
ford meanwhile, and partook of a magnificent banquet which Drake had prepared 
for his royal guest. At the conclusion of the dinner, the Queen manifested her 
supreme delight in the success of Drake’s expedition, and manifested her royal 
favor for him as a valuable subject by conferring upon him the honor of 
knighthood, and embracing the occasion to say that his actions did him more 
honor than the title which she had bestowed. As a further evidence of her great 
favor she gave orders that the ship should be preserved as a monument of the 

glory of the nation 
and of the victorious 
commander whom 
she.had been pleased 
to honor. This was 
accordingly done, and 
the Golden Hind 
was carefully kept 
out of service until 
she fell to pieces 
through natural de¬ 
cay ; after which a 
chair was made out 
of one of the planks 
of the vessel, and 
presented as a relic 
to the University of 
Oxford. Sir Walter 
Scott declares that 
the grace of her 
majesty extended to 
a great personal lik¬ 
ing for Drake, which 
inspired in him the 
ambition to become 
consort to the Queen. 
Sir Walter Raleigh 
was also an applicant for a like favor. But for some reason, which history fails to 
record, the Queen accepted neither, and remained throughout her life unmarried. 

ATTACK ON ST. DOMINGO. 

Hostilities with Spain began directly afterwards, and Drake, in connection 
with Sir Philip Sydney, was placed in command of an expedition sent out against 
the Spaniards in the West Indies. The armament consisted of twenty-five sail, 
of which two vessels were the Queen’s own ships, while the force of seamen 
numbered 2,300. On the 24th of November, 1585, an attack was made on a 









376 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


village at St. Domingo, twelve miles in the interior, which was easily captured 
and the town burned. Several other towns shortly afterwards capitulated to the 
victorious English. But further hostilities were temporarily checked by the 
appearance of malignant fever, which quickly carried off between two and three 
hundred of Drake’s men. After three months of inactivity, the fever having 
abated, the fleet sailed for another part of St. Domingo where an attack was made 
upon its chief city, and after a vigorous bombardment from the ships and an 
impetuous attack from the rear by a large force which had been landed for the 
purpose, the city capitulated, and as the citizens were unable to pay the large 
ransom exacted by Drake, a great portion of the place was burned. Many of the 
jbuildings, however, were so substantially constructed that their demolition was 
such a fatiguing duty that Drake at last accepted a ransom of twenty-five 
thousand ducats ($60,000) for the safety of what remained of the place. 

A month later an attack was directed against the city of Carthagena, which, 
though bravely defended, was gallantly carried, and the governor, Alonzo Bravo, 
made prisoner. After the city had been held for a period of six weeks, during 
which time many of the houses were destroyed, a ransom of 11,000 ducats was 
accepted, and the English sailed away, glad to escape from the fearful pest of 
bilious fever which had made its appearance among the crew, and from which 
seven hundred men afterwards perished. The fatal ravages of this disease 
so discouraged Drake that after sailing along the coast of Florida and burning 
St. Helena and San Augustine, he returned to England, bringing 200 brass and 
40 iron cannons and about $300,000 in prize money, $100,000 of which was 
divided among the men. 

DESTRUCTION OF THE SPANISH ARMADA. 

Drake’s arrival in England was most fortuitous ; for the Spanish Armada, 
of 134 ships, had just been fitted out for the purpose of invading England, 
and Elizabeth was in sore need of such an intrepid commander as Drake to re¬ 
sist the Spaniards. The merchants of London had fitted out twenty-six vessels 
of different sizes, to which the Queen added four ships of the royal squadron, 
and with this considerable fleet Drake sailed for the harbor of Cadiz, where he 
had the good fortune to burn and destroy a very large amount of shipping 
which was to have been used for the threatened invasion. In addition to the in¬ 
jury which he thus did to the enemy, he destroyed a fleet sailing for the 
Azores, and brought back to England the richest prize that he had ever made, 
being several ships laden with provisions and treasure for Spain; in addition to 
this he burnt several other vessels, his depredations being such a serious 
blow to the Spaniards that they were forced to delay the threatened invasion by 
the Armada for one year. 

On the 19th of July, 1586, the Armada came in sight of the English shores, 
when Drake and Fleming, the latter being lord high admiral, sailed out boldly 
and disputed with the Spanish fleet. A dreadful storm coming up, however, 
prevented the battle which would have followed, and while the English fleet was 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


377 


able to put back into port, the Spanish Armada was blown out to sea; and of 
the 134 ships which left the coast of Spain, all were destroyed but 53 which 
managed to return in a dismantled condition. This disaster practically ended 
the war between England and Spain, though it continued in a desultory manner 
for a considerable while, but was confined to reprisals on the high sea. 

DEATH OF SIR JOHN HAWKINS. 

In 1595 Sir John Hawkins accepted the services of Drake in an expedition 
to the West Indies. It was undertaken on a scale of magnitude and magnifi¬ 
cence, which, it was thought, would at once crush the Spanish power in that 
quarter. The fleet consisted of six of the Queen’s ships and twenty-one private 
vessels, with a crew of 2500 men and boys. The fleet, however, had scarcely put 

to sea when a dis¬ 
pute occurred be¬ 
tween Hawkins and 
Drake, which occas¬ 
ioned great delay, 
and enabled the 
Spaniards to make 
preparations to re¬ 
ceive the English, 
whose coming had 
been announced. 
This expedition was 
a failure from the 
beginning, for the 
Spaniards, having 
information of the 
approach of the 
enemy, set their forts 
in order, and so pro- 

QTTEEX 'ELIZABETH KNIGHTING BRAKE. tected g alleons 

laden with treasure for Spain that the prime object of the English was m every 
case defeated. Sir John Hawkins was so chagrined by the several disappointments 
thus met with that he fell sick, and died on the 12th of November, while the fleet 
was before Porto Rico. He was succeeded by Sir Thomas Baskerville, who, in con¬ 
junction with Drake, opened the attack on Porto Rico; but on the very night of 
Hawkin’s death a shot from the fort penetrated the cabin of the flag-ship, and 
drove the stool on which Drake sat from under him, while it killed Sir Nicolas 
Clifford, and mortally wounded Mr. Brute Brown and several other officers.. The 
ships now drew off, but resumed the attack on the following day, but with no 
better success; for though the English assaulted with great impetuosity and de¬ 
termination, the Spaniards inflicted such damage upon the assailants that they 

















378 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


withdrew with a barren victory, and the enterprise of capturing Porto Rico was 
abandoned. 

DEATH OF DRAKE. 

Being defeated in every effort and unable to give the enemy more than a 
trifling annoyance, and his health being greatly impaired, Drake advised the 
abandonment of the expedition and a return to England. Sir Thomas Basker- 
ville, who was in charge of the expedition, would not immediately consent to 
such withdrawal from Spanish territory, and undertook a passage of the Isthmus 
of Darien, with the intention of capturing Panama. But his force was harassed 
at every step bjr desultory firing from the Spaniards that lined the way, and 
suffering great privation and fatigue, as well as from a lack of provision, he 
returned to the ships entirely disheartened. But scarcely had they reached the 
ships when Drake, whose health had been failing for several months, was 
attacked by a flux under which he lingered for a period of three weeks, and 
expired on the 28th of January, 1596, just as the fleet had returned and lay 
off Porto Rico. His remains were placed in a leaden coffin and committed to 
the deep with all the pomp attending naval obsequies. 

Unsuccessful as his latest enterprises had been, Drake’s death was univer¬ 
sally lamented by the nation. The tenderness of pity was now mingled with 
admiration for the genius and valor of this truly great man, whose memory will 
survive as long as the world lasts; for the value of his services to England is 
beyond computation. 






CHAPTER XXXVI. 


CAVENDISH’S VOYAGES AROUND THE WORLD 

LIZABETHAN age was a period distinguished for 
the geniuses who made England the greatest nation 
of the earth. It was the age in which Shakes¬ 
peare dramatized, and Bacon philosophized, and 
Johnson wrote, and Goldsmith sang, and such 
heroes as Raleigh, Drake, and Cavendish explored. 
It was a period of immense mental energy in a 
wise direction, during which the great Elizabeth, 
by sagacious selection and direction of her cour¬ 
tiers, as well as by her influence and example, 
aroused public spirit to its utmost and inspired a 
thirst for glory that redounded to the national 
advantage in every channel. Learning was apoth¬ 
eosized, adventure, discovery, and colonization en¬ 
couraged, until true greatness was measured by 
performance, and accident of birth or fortune was 

in such small esteem that the purse of the rich was open to those who pro¬ 

posed enterprises that might reflect honor upon the promoter. 

It was this thirst for glory that led many men of wealth and position into 
foreign fields to endure the perils as well as hardships inseparable from a 
search for unknown lands. It was this patriotic impulse that sent Raleigh to 
the little known land of America to plant a colony, that induced Drake to 
prey upon Spanish commerce, and sweep around from coast of continent 
to shore of island, to battle with galleons on the high sea, and to brave 

the hostility of savages. And it was the glory to be thus acquired that 

prompted Thomas Cavendish to seek fame by emulating their deeds, if not by 
surpassing them. 

Like Drake, Cavendish was the son of a gentleman of considerable fortune, 
whose estates lay in England near Ipswich, which, in the time of his youth 
was a maritime town of no small importance. Unfortunately, his father died 
when Thomas was in his teens, and being the eldest son, he came directly 
into possession of a large patrimony, a greater part of which he speedily 
squandered by riotous living and in imitating the gallantries and dissipations 
of the Court. Being presently reduced to the necessity of earning a living 
by nobler pursuits than destiny seemed at first to have marked him for, and 
having an early passion for the sea, with what means were still left him he 

(379) 














380 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


equipped a vessel at his own expense, and in 1585 accompanied Sir Richard 
Greenville on an expedition to Virginia, with the intention of planting a 
•colony; but the venture was profitless and a decided failure. 

EQUIPMENT OF THE EXPEDITION. 

But though Mr. Cavendish had been unsuccessful in his first adventure at 
sea, he had made a considerable tour among the West Indies, which increased 
his desire for further enterprises among the unknown regions of the earth; and 
in six months after his return from Virginia, with the part of his fortune which 
still remained to him he equipped a small squadron and projected a voyage 
into the South Sea, in emulation of the services that had been performed by 
his immediate predecessor, Sir Francis Drake. It was through the recommen¬ 
dation of Lord Huusdon that he procured the Queen’s commission, and sailed 
from Plymouth on the 21st of July, 1586. His fleet consisted of the Desire, 
a vessel of 120 tons, the Content of 60 tons, and the Huge Gallant, a light 
bark of 40 tons, scarcely any one of which was suitable to perform a voyage 
•across the ocean. He had a crew of 123 soldiers and seamen, the most of 
whom had seen service in previous expeditions, and all were enthusiastic, chiefly 
under the prospect of acquiring fortune by wresting it from Spanish merchant¬ 
men. England being still at war with Spain, his course lay directly for Sierra 
Leone, where he first touched, in expectation of meeting with a Portuguese 
vessel, which was said to be in the Guinea waters, laden with considerable 
treasure. But on his arrival there he found that the ship had departed several 
days previously, and his disappointment so angered him that he landed with 70 
of his marines and made an unprovoked attack upon the town, plundering 
and burning 150 houses. The negro occupants fled without making any 
defence, until being pursued to the woods they shot poisoned arrows from the 
shelter of trees and succeeded in killing one of the soldiers and wounding 
several others. Departure was made from the African coast on the 6th of 
September, and on the 16th of December following the squadron landed on the 
coast of Patagonia and discovered Port Desire, which is a harbor at the mouth 
of Desire river, named in honor of the ship in which Cavendish sailed as 
admiral. A stay of several days was made here, to give opportunity for a 
large slaughter of seals and a great number of sea-birds, which from the 
description given by Cavendish, must have been penguins. 

DISCOVERY OF THE SKELETONS OF GIANTS. 

While lying in this harbor a boy belonging to the crew of the Content 
was suddenly surrounded by about fifty Patagonians intent upon his capture. 
But several of Cavendish’s men hastened to his rescue and drove the natives 
into the country for three or four miles; but no casualty is reported to have 
occurred. They discovered here footprints which Cavendish alleged were eighteen 
inches in length, and also skeleton remains of a most extraordinary size; the 
dimensions, however, Cavendish neglects to mention. Le Maire and Schouten 
visited Port Desire in December, 1615, with a fleet of two vessels, and finding an 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


381 



old cemetery opened several of the graves and removed therefrom many skele¬ 
tons, which they declared were ten to eleven feet in length, the skulls being 
large enough to cover the Dutchmen’s heads as helmets, being more than twice 
the size of the skulls of Europeans. From this fact, more than from recent 
investigations, has arisen the claim that the Patagonians were a race of giants ; 
for the people, as they have since been met with by such scientists as Darwin, 
are found to be but little more than the height of the ordinary European, their 

average stature being about six 
feet. If Le Maire and Schouten 
really discovered skeletons of 
the size which they report, they 
must have been of a pre-historic 
race, and it is therefore the more 
to be deplored that none of these 
human relics were taken to 
Europe and brought under scien¬ 
tific examination. 

INCREDIBLE SUFFERINGS OF A 
SPANISH COLONY. 

Leaving Port Desire, Caven¬ 
dish sailed directly towards Ma¬ 
gellan Straits which they entered 
on the 6th of January, anchor¬ 
ing a few miles within the west¬ 
ern entrance. At night, signal 
lights were observed to the north 
side of the strait and a boat was 
sent off in the morning to dis¬ 
cover the cause. To their pro¬ 
found amazement they found 
three men who were the surviv¬ 
ing representatives of a wretched 
Spanish colony that had passed 
through misfortunes and suffer¬ 
ings of the most melancholy char- 
discovery of remains of GtANTs at port desire. acter. This colony had been 
planted some years before by Sarmiento, an enthusiastic Spaniard who set out with 
a powerful armament of twenty-three ships and 3500 men, destined for different 
parts of South America, with the ambition of planting the people at various 
points, which would enable Spain to monopolize the trade of that region. But 
on the outset five of the ships were wrecked in a violent gale and 800 men 
perished. This sad disaster caused the fleet to put back to Spain. But they 
embarked a second time, in which, however, misfortune continued to follow 














382 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


them until their arrival at Rio Janeiro, where the remnant wintered. In the 
following spring sickness broke out among the colonists which carried away 
several hundred more, while the bottoms of their ships were attacked by worms, 
and in sailing to a point of Patagonia the largest and best vessel of the fleet 
went down at sea carrying 330 men with her. From this time on one disaster 
after another followed every effort of Sarmiento until the last wreck of the 
unfortunate expedition was met on the bleak shore of Magellan Strait, as just 
described. As these few survivors of the expedition refused to embark with 
Cavendish on account of their distrust of all English heretics, as the Spaniards 
persisted in calling them, he continued through the strait, meeting with none 
of the natives until the 22d, when a considerable party was seen on shore and an 
effort was made to communicate with them. But they appeared hostile and Caven¬ 
dish, without suffi- 
cient provocation, 
discharged a volley 
of muskets at the 
natives by which a 
dozen or more were 
killed, and the 
others took hasty 
flight. 

A BLOODY FIGHT WITH 
SPANIARDS. 

After a very tedi¬ 
ous passage of 
nearly a month, 
the fleet of Caven¬ 
dish accomplished 
a passage of the 
straits, and entered 

the South Sea under a favorable wind. Thence he proceeded along the coast 
northward for nearly a month, until he was compelled to put into the Bay of 
Quintero, twenty miles north of Valparaiso, and to go on shore for a supply 
of fresh water. While a party was engaged filling the casks, they were sur¬ 
prised by a body of 200 Spanish horsemen, who came down upon them with 
such fury that twelve of the party were cut off, half of which number were 
killed, and the rest made prisoners. In an effort to rescue their companions 
the English made an assault, in which twenty-four of the Spaniards were slain, 
and the rest driven off It was afterwards ascertained that, instead of making 
slaves of those thus captured, as was almost invariably done, the Spanish, in 
revenge for the loss of their companions, carried their prisoners to Santiago, 
and there executed them as pirates, notwithstanding the fact that they had 
sailed under the Queen’s commission. 



CAVENDISH SURPRISED BY SPANIARDS. 

















UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


383 


Leaving Quintero, Cavendish proceeded to another point on the coast 
called the Brown Mountain, where, on landing, he met with a number of 
Indians who were slaves of the Spaniards, and who were employed at small 
recompense to carry a supply of water and wood on board the vessels. These 
slaves are represented to have been a very degraded race, almost as low in 
the scale of civilization as the Terra del Fuegans. Their dwellings were of 
the simplest character, made of a few sticks placed across two posts sunk in 
the ground, on which a few boughs were carelessly laid, serving little or no 
protection against rain or inclement weather. Skins, however, were spread on 
the floor, which gave some appearance of comfort, though their food consisted 
of raw and generally putrid fish. Their fishing canoes, on the other hand, 
were constructed with great ingenuity of skins sewn up and inflated like blad¬ 
ders. Each canoe was composed of two of these skins, and in addition to 
being water-tight, was so buoyant as to carry a considerable weight. But they 
were illy qualified for propulsion through the water. 

On the 23d of February, 1587, Cavendish fell in with a small Spanish 
vessel having a cargo of wine, which he captured and temporarily added to his 
squadron. Directly after, he captured another large ship, but it had already 
been abandoned by the crew, and proved to be a worthless prize. A third and 
a fourth vessel were likewise captured in the same bay, but being of little or 
no service they were burned, and on the 26th the fleet bore away from Arica. 

TORTURE OF PRISONERS. 

On the following day a small vessel, which had been despatched from San¬ 
tiago with intelligence to the Viceroy that an English squadron (probably 
Drake himself) was upon the coast, was captured. Believing that the officers 
had dispatches of great importance, Cavendish resorted to every expedient to 
compel the bearers to deliver them up, but instead they threw them overboard 
while the English were in chase; nor could any torture, to which Cavendish 
afterwards subjected them, compel a surrender of their secrets. An old Fleming, 
whom he threatend to hang and actually caused to be hoisted up, gave not the 
least sign of betrayal, declaring that he preferred death to perjuring himself or 
in any wise compromising his country. The mode of torture employed by 
Cavendish was most revolting, and is the one great shame that attaches to his 
name. One of the crew that accompanied him declares that he tormented the 
prisoners with their thumbs in a winch, and continued this at several times 
until the agony threw the poor wretches into unconsciousness. 

Thereafter a number of other small Spanish prizes were taken, but not 
one of them contained any considerable wealth, which disappointment so angered 
Cavendish that when on the 20th of March he landed at Paita with seventy of 
his men he assaulted the town, drove out the inhabitants and pursued them to 
a considerable distance and until he found where they had stored their principal 
goods. But his booty consisted of only twenty-five pounds of silver, with a few 
other costly commodities. He then set fire to the two hundred houses of the 


384 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


place, which were burned to the ground with their contents, all of which was 
valued at about $30,000. He also burned a ship lying in the harbor and 
sunk a Spanish sloop of 250 tons. 


A SPANISH QUEEN. 

After committing these depredations Cavendish continued northward and 
next anchored at the Island of Puna, which was in a splendid harbor, but which 



PATAGONIANS FISHING. 


the historian of the expedition neglects to definitely locate. Upon landing, 
Cavendish went directly to the palace of the cacique, or chief, who was found living 
in a style of great magnificence. His house was on the outskirts of the town 
by the water’s edge, and contained many handsome apartments, while it was 
surrounded by porches commanding fine prospects both towards the sea and land. 
The chief had married a beautiful Spanish woman, who now occupied the 
position of queen of the island, and in many respects was regarded as superior 
to her husband. She never set foot upon the ground, considering it too low 
a thing for royalty to do, but was carried everywhere she desired to go in a 














UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


385 


palanquin on the shoulders of slaves, and was attended by native ladies and 
principal men of the island. The cacique did not remain to receive Cavendish, 
for having 1 already some intimation of the rapacity of his visitors, he and his 
queen fled on the first approach of the English, carrying with them valuables 
estimated at $50,000. The palace, however, was dismantled, and a considerable 
quantity of valuable hangings of Cordovan leather, richly painted and gilded, 
and a variety of small valuables were taken by the English, not for their value, 
but as curiosities. Though Cavendish burnt a great part of the houses and 
rifled the churches, he found many things about the place which invited him 
to make his stay several days in this pleasant harbor; for the country abounded 

with cattle and poultry, on which his 
crew feasted in the greatest extrava¬ 
gance. He also improved the time to 
beach his principal ship and overhaul 
her bottom. 

ANOTHER BATTLE WITH SPANIARDS. 

But after being again prepared for 
sea, on the day preceding his intended 
departure a party of seamen returned 
to the town to make another forage for 
provisions. Report, however, had gone 
through the country of the presence of 
the English, and a hundred armed Span¬ 
iards reached the place while the scat¬ 
tered seamen were chasing pigs and 
poultry, least anticipating any peril. In 
a moment they found themselves the 
object of attack, and having no time or 
opportunity for defence, seven were killed 
outright, three were made prisoners, 
and two were drowned who had leaped 
into the sea in a vain effort to escape 
their pursuers. Cavendish as quickly as possible landed the remainder of his 
force and attacked the Spaniards and Indians, forty-six of whom fell before the 
well-directed aim of his trained marines. Having driven the remainder out of 
the place, he set fire to every house in the town, destroyed four ships which 
were then building, and committed every possible depredation upon the planta¬ 
tions and orchards thereabout. He then set sail on the 5th of June, but put in 
again fifty miles to the north at Rio Dolce. Here he sunk the Hugh Gallant, 
his crews not being large enough to man all the vessels, while the Gallant was 
scarcely longer sea-worthy, and was very small and a poor sailer at best. On 
the 9th of July they captured another ship of 120 tons, which, after appropriat¬ 
ing her ropes and tackles, they burnt. In this vessel was taken a Frenchman 

25 



CAPTURING THE DESPATCH VESSEL. 













UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


386 


who gave Cavendish information of a ship from Manilla which was then ex¬ 
pected. This was a prize worth contending for, and Cavendish was so fortu¬ 
nate as to intercept a small bark which had been sent out to give warning to 
the approaching vessel. But while awaiting the arrival of this anticipated 
prize, Cavendish set about inflicting as much injury upon the Spaniards of the 
coast as was possible. He burnt two ships at Puerto de Navidad, and took 
from the people such provisions as he had need of. 



A HOT FIGHT BETWEEN CAVENDISH AND 
THE SPANIARD. 


The prize not arriving at the 
time expected, on the 24th of Sep-' 
•tember Cavendish put into the 
Bay of Mazatlan and there he 
careened his ships for an overhaul¬ 
ing, rebuilt the pinnace and took on another supply of water. From this place 
he sailed to Cape St. Lucas, where he lay in wait, cruising about the headland 
until the 4th of November, on the morning of which date the lookout from the 
mast-head described a sail bearing towards the Cape. Chase was immediately 
given, and continued for several hours, when Cavendish came up with the 
Santa Anna, a Spanish galleon, who, refusing to strike her flag was treated to 




































UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


387 


a broadside and a volley of musketry. The ships were now brought together, 
and the English made an attempt to board, but were repulsed by the gallant 
Spaniards who killed two and wounded five of the boarding party, although their 
most formidable weapons were stones, which, from behind protecting barricades, 
they hurled upon the English. Cavendish now thought proper to separate the 
ships and to stand off and rake the Spaniard with his ordnance, while keep¬ 
ing up a fire of small shot by which several of the Spaniards were 
killed. But they still held out resolutely, refusing to yield on any terms. This 
unequal combat continued for more than an hour, and until the Spanish ship 
was upon the point of sinking, having been pierced in several places below the 
water-line, so that, in the last extremity, the captain sent a flag of truce with 
a plea for mercy, offering to surrender up the cargo of his ship if the lives of 
himself and men were spared. The ship was then brought into shore to pre¬ 
vent it from sinking, and rifled of her valuable cargo of 700 tons, the property 
of the King of Spain. This cargo was composed chiefly of silks, satins, damasks, 
wine, preserved fruits, musk, etc., to the value of $100,000. The crew of the 
Spaniard consisted of 190 persons, among whom were several females who 
were courteously cared for by Cavendish. But being unable to take them on 
his voyage, he left them on shore, where there was a great abundance of water, 
fish, fowl, and game, and presenting them with a part of the ship’s store and 
wine, he assisted them in dismantling the Santa Anna, which furnished wood 
to erect comfortable shelter for the unfortunates. 

Cavendish having thus provided for the captives whom he was about to 
abandon, after a day of general gayety and festivity the Desire and the Content 
bore away for England. But directly after their departure the Content lagged 
astern and, strange enough, was never again seen by her consort. The com¬ 
mentator on this voyage of Cavendish makes the following observation with 
regard to the singular disappearance of the Content: “ No trace of this ship 

remains in any contemporary relation, so far as we have seen. It is imagined 
that the company, who were dissatisfied with Cavendish, might have resolved to 
desert him and return by the straits, and that they might have perished in the 
attempt. Another, and equally probable conjecture, was, that they had attempted 
the north-west passage. This last, as we afterwards incidentally learned, seems 
to have been the opinion of the Spanish pilot, who was compelled to return to 
the Indies in the Desire.” 

Cavendish’s party, having thus been reduced to a single ship, as the Golden 
Hind had done before her in Drake’s expedition, started across the Pacific, and 
on the 3d of January, 1588, came in sight of. the Ladrone Islands. This voyage 
had been an unusually pleasant one, since for forty-five days they had enjoyed 
fair winds, and made a distance of nearly six thousand miles. As they came 
in sight of Guahan, one of the principal islands of the Ladrone Group, fifty or 
more canoes filled with natives came off to meet the ship, bringing such articles as 
they had been in the habit of supplying to the Spaniards, such as fish, potatoes, 


388 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


plantains, and cocoas, which they were glad to exchange for pieces of iron. But 
the traffic was plied so eagerly that the natives became unbearably familiar, and as 
Cavendish was easily irritated, he unwisely ordered a part}'’ of his marines to fire 
upon some of the too persistent natives. But it is not reported how many of 
the number were inj ured by this hasty action. The Desire finally came to anchor 
in a strait known as St. Bernardino, in a bay of the Island of Capul, one of 
the Ladrones. 

AN EXECUTION GROWING OUT OF AN EFFORT TO SUPPLANT THE SPANISH. 

Manilla had by this time become a flourishing Spanish settlement, and a 
place of great wealth and commercial importance, though it had been established 
by the Spanish only a few years before. The place was zealously guarded, and 
Cavendish was compelled to exercise the greatest prudence to avoid conflict with 



A uvEivY TRADE with The natives.—(F rom an old copper print.) 


the Spanish authorities, who naturally looked with jealous eye towards every 
action of the English, with whom Spain was at that time at war, Cavendish 
was therefore careful to take every means to prevent a knowledge of the arrival 
of his ship at the Ladrones from reaching Manilla, and fortune came singularly 
to his aid to keep his presence at the islands a secret from his enemies. This 
fortune consisted in a revelation made to him by a Portuguese, who had been 
suffered to accompany Cavendish after the capture of the Santa Anna, that the 
Spanish pilot, who was employed on the Desire, had prepared a letter, which 
he had intended to secretly convey to the governor at Manilla, giving informa- 






















UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


389 


tioii of the presence of the English ship and assurances that it would not be 
difficult to surprise and capture her. The letter also contained the admonition 
that if the English vessel was permitted to escape, the English might in the 
following year take possession of the rich city of Manilla, which they had the 
audacity to approach so near with a small force. This crime, in the eyes of 
Cavendish, or active patriotism as it would -be regarded by the Spaniards, was 
proved against the pilot, who, indeed, could not and did not deny having writ¬ 
ten the letter. So, on the following morning, upon the order of Cavendish, he 
was hanged at the yard-arm. 

AN INTERVIEW WITH THE DEVIL. 

Cavendish remained in the Bay of Capul for nine days, during which time 
his ship’s company received a large store of refreshments, and amused them¬ 
selves with the natives who never tired of showing them every possible courtesy 
and generosity. Cavendish visited several of their villages, and was surprised 
to find that all the natives practised circumcision, esteeming it of an importance 
as great as that which the Jews attach to the ceremony. Instead of worship¬ 
ping gods, they paid their devotions to the devil, and declared that they often¬ 
times had conversed with him, when he always appeared to them in the most 
ugly and monstrous shape. 

On the day preceding his departure, or the 23d of January, 1589, Caven¬ 
dish ordered the seven chiefs of the island, and, as he declares, a hundred 
islands more, to appear before him, and from them he exacted a tribute in hogs, 
•poultry, and other productions of the islands, and thereupon, with much cere¬ 
mony, he informed them of the greatness of the country from which he had 
sailed, and raised the banner of England to the mast-head and caused the drums 
and trumpets to be sounded, so as to produce an effect upon the islanders which 
must redound to the advantage of any other Englishmen who might appear in 
those waters. This having been done, and possession of the islands taken in 
the name of England, the natives acknowledged their submission to the new 
representative of that government, whereupon, Cavendish returned to the chiefs 
the value of the tributes which he had exacted. 

KING OF A HUNDRED WIVES. 

Cavendish now weighed anchor, and ran along the coast of Manilla, meet¬ 
ing with no resistance, and by the middle of February passed the Moluccas, 
but for some reason he did not call at those islands. On the 1st of March, 
continuing on the way towards home, the Desire passed through the straits be¬ 
tween Java and Sumatra, and on the 5th came to anchor in a bay at the west 
end of Java. A negro who accompanied Cavendish, and could speak Arabic, 
was found to be able to converse with some natives who were seen fishing 
near the shore, and through his communication with the chief of a con¬ 
siderable town near by, a large quantity of provisions, consisting of fowl, 
eggs, fish, oranges, and limes was obtained. Directly after, the King’s secre¬ 
tary visited Cavendish, and brought as a present a wine which was represented 


390 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


to be as strong as aqua-vita. The secretary was received on board, and 
was treated in the most hospitable manner, with purpose of impressing him 
with the magnificence of the English. Wines and preserves taken from the 
prizes were produced at a banquet which was tendered the secretary, and a 
band of English musicians exerted their skill to give him entertainment. 
Some Portuguese merchants were also found on the island, who had established 









themselves in a profitable 
trade with the natives, 
and when they learned 
from Cavendish that he 
had been preying upon 
Spanish commerce in the 
South Seas they were par¬ 
ticularly delighted, as the 
rivalry for the commerce 
of the Pacific Islands was 
chiefly between Spain 
and Portugal. 

Cavendish banqueted the Portuguese merchants, and related to them the 
most recent political intelligences that he had, and in turn they described to him 
the riches of Java and the remarkable customs observed by the natives. From 
them Cavendish learned that the reigning king, or rajah, was named Bolamboam, 
and was reputed to be 150 years of age. He was held in the greatest veneration 


SELF-EXECUTION OF THE RAJAH’S WIVES. 






























UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


391 


by his people, none of whom would dare to trade with any nation without his li¬ 
cense, on pain of death. Old as he was said to be, the King still maintained a 
hundred wives, while his son had half that number. So great was the obedience 
of the Javanese to their rajah, that whenever he commanded, however dangerous 
or desperate the undertaking, no one would dare shrink from executing it, since 
their heads would be the forfeit of their disobedience. But they were distin¬ 
guished as being the bravest race in the south-eastern parts of the globe, at times 
seeming to court death, in order to please their king. The men were of a dark 
color, and were generally naked, but the women were invariably clothed, and 
of complexion very much fairer. According to the customs of the Javanese, 
when their king died his body was burnt, and the ashes preserved. “ Five 
days afterwards, his principal wife threw from her a ball which was provided 
and kept in the royal palace, and wherever it ran, thither all the wives repaired. 
Each turned her face eastward, when, with a dagger as sharp as a razor, she 
stabbed herself to the heart, and, bathed in her own blood, fell upon her face 
and thus died.” Fortunately such shocking tragedies were not often enacted, as 
the government was not only stable, but the kings appeared to be favored with 
exceedingly long life, if assertions of the Javanese are to be credited. 

RETURN OF CAVENDISH. 

The Portuguese entertained the wild ambition of setting up an empire in 
the archipelago which should include the Moluccas and the Philippines, and 
argued that Ceylon and China might be easily added, if Don Antonio, king of 
Portugal, could be induced to enter upon the proposed conquest, which they solici¬ 
ted Cavendish to use his influence to bring about. But, without promising to 
undertake such commission, or giving them to believe that he would refuse, 
lest in either event he might compromise English interest, on the 16th of March 
Cavendish bade adieu to the Portuguese merchants, and after a tempestuous 
voyage of nine weeks passed Good Hope, and on the 9th of June anchored in 
a harbor at St. Helena. This island, which had now been held by the Portu¬ 
guese for a period of eighty years, had been well stocked with partridges, pheas¬ 
ants, ducks, goats, and wild hogs, and had become a stopping place for all 
vessels sailing between Europe and the Spanish Main for the South Seas. The 
greatest abundance of refreshments of nearly every kind were procurable, and, 
though it was a rock-infested shore and appeared unfavorable for the raising of 
any kind of vegetation, had nevertheless grown to be the most important island 
in either the Atlantic or Pacific. Cavendish, therefore, remained at St. Helena 
until the 20th, and, having refreshed himself and overhauled his vessel, departed 
again for England. While enroute, on the 3d of September he met a Flemish 
hulk from Lisbon, which informed him of the defeat of the Spanish Armada. 
But the same terrible storm which destroyed the Spanish fleet came near proving 
fatal to Cavendish, for his vessel was storm-driven for a period of several days, 
and until the crew had despaired of ever reach land again. Fortunately, the 
wind abated at a time when the vessel was leaking badly and would have un- 


392 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


doubtedly gone to the bottom had she been compelled to endure the storm a few 
hours longer. He had the good fortune, therefore, to return to Plymouth on 
the 9th of September, 1588, after an absence of two years and fifty days in 
which time he had made a complete circuit of the globe. 

WEALTH AMASSED BY THE EXPEDITION. 

Cavendish’s voyage had been attended throughout with unexampled success, 
for having sailed under the Queen’s commission at a time when England and 
Spain were at war, he had letters of marque, which permitted him to prey upon 
Spanish commerce, and thus he was so successful that he brought back with 
him wealth great enough, as was said, to buy an earldom. It is recorded by 
historians, that when he returned to Plymouth the sails of his vessel were of 
silk, and that his cargo consisted of vast quantities of gold, silver, and rich 
fabrics. But an exaggerated idea of the vast wealth which he thus accumulated 
may have been obtained from the fact that, his old sails having become no 
longer serviceable, he was compelled to use some of the damask which he had 
captured to supply their places, and, seeing a vessel riding into the harbor with 
silken sails after an expedition which in the outset seemed to promise great 
riches, it was the most natural thing, for the times, to believe that he had ac¬ 
quired really fabulous riches. It has also been stated (though without reliable 
authority) that upon his return Queen Elizabeth knighted him, as she had 
Drake, a report, however, which probably obtained some credence from the letter 
which he wrote to his principal patron, Lord Hunsdon, extracts from which are 
most excellent reading, as follows: “It hath pleased Almighty God to suffer 
me to circumpass the whole globe of the world, entering in at the Strait of 
Magellan, and returning by the Cape de Buena Esperanca; in which voyage I 
have either discovered or brought certain intelligence of all the rich places of 
the world, which were ever discovered by any Christian. I navigated along the 
coast of Chili, Peru, and New Spain, where I made great spoils. I burnt and 
sunk nineteen sails of ships small and great. All the villages and towns that 
ever I landed at I burned and spoiled. And had I not been discovered upon 
the coast, I had taken great quantity of treasure. The matter of most profit 
unto me was a great ship of the king which I took at California; which ship 
came from the Philippines, being one of the richest of merchandise that ever 
passed the seas. From the Cape of California, being the uttermost part of all 
New Spain, I navigated to the islands of the Philippines, hard upon the coast 
of China, of which country I have brought such intelligence as hath not been 
heard of in these parts: the stateliness and riches of which I fear to make report 
of, lest I should not be credited. I found out by the way homeward the island 
of Santa Helena, where the Portuguese used to relieve themselves; and from 
that island God hath suffered me to return to England. All which services 
with myself, I humbly prostrate at her majesty’s feet, desiring the Almighty 
long to continue her reign among us; for at this day she is the most famous 
and victorious princess that liveth in the world.” 


CHAPTER XXXVII. 

CAVENDISH’S SECOND VOYAGE. 


E success which attended Cavendish’s first 
expedition, as already narrated, was such 
that all England was excited, and ambi¬ 
tion for further discovery in the South Sea 
was immensely increased. Cavendish him¬ 
self, though having thus acquired a very 
large fortune, was desirous of extending 
his fame, if not enlarging his wealth, by 
conducting a second and, as he hoped, 
more thorough expedition into the waters 
whence he had just returned. But in 
the two years which he spent in pro¬ 
viding vessels and means for his second 
undertaking, several expeditions were fitted 
out from England; not one, however, 
proved successful, but on the other hand nearly all ended in fatal disaster. By 
some it is maintained that in three years after his return, Cavendish had lived 
so riotously that the greater part of the riches which he accumulated in the 
South Sea was expended, and he was left with no other alternative for replen¬ 
ishing his exhausted treasury than by a second expedition. Others, however, 
maintain that his wealth was exhausted in equipping the new squadron with 
which he put to sea on the 26th of August, 1591. The fleet with which he 
thus sailed consisted of “ three tall ships,” as they are described, and two barks. 
As admiral of the fleet, Cavendish sailed in the Leicester galleon, and his old 
ship, the Desire, was commanded by the celebrated pilot, navigator, and fortu¬ 
nate explorer, Captain John Davis, whose fame rests upon his voyages into the 
Arctic Seas. The Roebuck, another of the fleet, was commanded by a Mr. 
Cook, wdiile the Black pinnace, and a small bark named the Dainty, which were 
owned by a Mr. Gilbert who had been among the promoters of the discovery of 
a north-west passage, completed the fleet. These five vessels, well provisioned, 
and all rating as A 1, sailed under a favoring wind until they reached the 
Equinoctial line, where they were becalmed for a space of twenty-seven days, and, 
being exposed to a burning sun and deadly night vapors, many of the seamen 
were attacked with scurvy, from which not a few died. Out of this sorry con¬ 
dition the vessels finally emerged, and on the 2d of December, while off the 
coast of Brazil, they captured a Portuguese bark laden with sugar, small wares, 
and slaves. 















394 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


MISFORTUNES OF CAVENDISH BEGIN. 

While England was not engaged in active war with Portugal, commerce 
with South American ports was in dispute, and the vessels of one nation 
became a legitimate prey of the stronger ones of others, so that we have the 
shameful spectacle of Spain, Portugal, and England preying indiscriminately upon 
one another, with no other motive than unlawful acquisition of wealth. Three 
days after the capture of the Portuguese vessel, Cavendish landed at a settle¬ 
ment called Placenzia, which they pillaged, and on the 16th surprised the town of 
Santos at a time when the inhabitants were nearly all at mass. It happened, 
however, through some mismanagement of the commander of the Roebuck, that 
the Indians obtained knowledge of the approach of the English in time to 
make way with a part of their possessions, principally through the first attack 
being made upon the houses instead of the church, where much of the wealth 
of the people was stored. The misfortunes of the expedition really began here, 
for the people having abandoned the place, Cavendish was unable to obtain a 
store of provisions which he stood very greatly in need of, and, wasting five 
weeks in a futile effort to replenish his ships, found himself in the beginning 
of winter, and only a little ways from Magellan Strait, with scarcely anything 
for his crews to subsist on. 

CAVENDISH'S SAD STORY. 

On the 23d of January, 1592, after having burnt St. Vincent, Cavendish 
put into Port Desire, which had been appointed as a rendezvous in case of a 
separation of the vessels. But on the 7th of February, the fleet was overtaken 
by a violent gale, and the following day the ships were so scattered that it was 
not until the 6th of March that the Roebuck and Desire reached the ' place 
appointed, and not until ten days afterwards that the Black pinnace put in her 
appearance. In the meantime the Dainty, which was a volunteer bark, having 
stored herself with sugar at Santos, put back to England. The sufferings which 
the crew now endured, by reason of the storm and lack of provisions, caused an 
uneasiness among the men, which came near breaking out into active mutiny. 
Their anger was chiefly directed against Cavendish, who, in order to secure his 
safety, left the Leicester, and took refuge on the Desire with Captain Davis. 
But he was little better off, for, according to his charges, Davis also turned 
against him, nor stopped short of open abuse and threatenings. He seems to 
have become the butt of every reproach and charge that could be preferred by 
any and all of his officers and men. An account is given of this most disas¬ 
trous voyage, as drawn up by Cavendish himself in his last illness. It was 
addressed to Sir Tristram Gorges, whom the unfortunate navigator appointed 
his executor, and is one of the most affecting narratives that was ever written— 
a confession, wrung in bitterness of heart, from a high-spirited, proud, and 
headstrong man, who, having set his all upon a cast, and finding himself undone, 
endured the deeper mortification of believing he had been the dupe of those 
whom he implicitly trusted. Whatever may be our opinion of his culpability, 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


395 


we cannot withhold our sympathy, when we read the report of his extreme dis¬ 
tress. He thus writes: “We had been almost four months between the coast of 
Brazil and the straits, being in distance not above 600 leagues, which is com¬ 
monly run in twenty or thirty days; but such was the 'adverseness of our fot- 
tune, that in coming thither we spent the summer, and found the straits, in 
the beginning of a most extreme winter, not durable for Christians. 

“After the month of May was come in, nothing but such flights of snow, 
and extremity of frosts, as in all my life I never saw any to be compared with 
them. This extremity caused the weak men (in my ship only) to decay; for, 
in seven or eight days in this extremity, there died forty men and sickened 
seventy, so that there were not fifteen men able to stand upon the hatches.” 
Another relation of the voyage written by Mr. John Jane, a friend of Captain 
Davis, even deepens this picture of distress. The squadron, beating for above a 
week against the wind into the straits, and in all that time advancing only 
fifty leagues, now lay in a sheltered cove on the south side of the passage, and 
nearly opposite Cape Froward, where they remained till the 15th of May, a 
period of extreme suffering. “In this time,” says Jane, “we endured extreme 
storms with perpetual snow, where many of our men died of cursed famine and 
miserable cold, not having wherewith to cover their bodies, nor to fill their bellies, 
but living by mussels, water, and weeds of the sea, with a small relief from the 
ship’s stores of meal sometimes.” Nor was this the worst, “All the sick men 
in the galleon were most uncharitably put on shore into the woods, in the 
snow, wind, and cold, when men of good health could scarcely endure it, where 
they ended their lives in the highest degree of misery.” 

ASTOUNDING STORIES TOLD BY A VOYAGER. 

But the hardships precipitated by insufficient food, continuous storms and 
severely cold weather were increased by superstitious fears, which latter Caven¬ 
dish does not. mention, but which, we find recorded in a book written by Purchas 
Pilgrim relating to “ the admirable and strange adventures of Master Anthony 
Knyvet, who went with Master Cavendish in his second voyage,” and was among 
the number forcibly put on shore and then abandoned. Knyvet’s story, for 
marvels, if not for invention and imagination, rivals the adventures of Sinbad the 
Sailor. He wandered for a long while about Patagonia, and after gaining the 
coast of Brazil, was for many years among the “ Cannibals.” Many are 
the wonderful escapes from death which Knyvet is declared to have made. In 
the straits, pulling off his stockings one night, all his toes came with them ; 
but this is not so bad as the fortune of one Harris, who, blowing his nose with 
his fingers, throws it into the fire, and never recovers it again, as Knyvet seems 
to have done his toes by the good offices of a surgeon whom Cavendish employed, 
and who performed a cure by the mere muttering of words. In the straits, he 
saw both giants and pigmies. The foot-marks of the giants at Port Desire were 
four times the length of an Englishman’s foot. In the straits their stature was 
fifteen and sixteen spans long ; at Port Famine, or San Felipe, the desolate station 


396 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


of the Spanish colony, four or five thousand pigmies with mouths reaching from 
ear to ear were seen at one time, whose height was from four to five spans. Some 
of Knyvet’s marvels relate to the singular subject of demoniac possession, and 
satanic influence among the tribes with whom he sojourned. These accounts and 
others of the elder voyagers, are not materially different from those which we 
received of the South-Sea Islanders up to within a few years of the present 
time, and which we are assured by Ellis some of the early missionaries were 
disposed to believe. On his return to England, Master Knyvet told Purchas that 
he once heard an Indian conferring with the Spirit that possessed him, and 



knyvet among The cannibals. 


threatening that, if it did not use him better, he would turn Christian; the Spirit 
took the hint and left him. 

CONCERNING THE BASE TREACHERY OF DAVIS. 

Subsequently, it appears that confidence in Cavendish was partially restored, 
or else, having no further reliance in Davis, he considered himself more secure on 
his own vessel, and returned to the Leicester, and at length, on a petition signed 
by the whole company, he returned to the coast of Brazil for supplies, which, 
having been obtained, he made a second attempt to pass the Strait of Magellan. 
On the 15th of May they set sail again, but on the 20th, the Desire and Black 




UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


397 


pinnace were separated from the galleon, or admiral’s ship. How this separation 
occurred we are not able to decide, but to the day of his death, Cavendish always 
maintained that Davis wilfully abandoned him to his fate. The friends of Davis, 
on the other hand, maintain that he proceeded to Port Desire, as instructed, and 
. afterwards would have sought the Leicester, but for the violent opposition of his 
company who would not permit his departure, and that upon an effort to do so a 
mutiny arose, which was only quelled by acquiescence in their demands. The 
weight of evidence, however goes far to establish the claim that Davis was 
ambitious to conduct an expedition of his own, and that to this end he designedly 
separated from Cavendish and continued on towards the straits. 



SAVED FROM STARVATION BY A MILLION OF BIRDS. 


HARDSHIPS OF DAVIS AFTER SEPARATING FROM CAVENDISH. 

Being driven out to sea by a storm, he discovered and named the Falk¬ 
land Islands, though history has denied to him the honor of this discovery, 
and has accorded it to Sir Richard Hawkins, who gave to them the name of 
Hawkins’ Maiden Land, 11 for that it was discovered in the reign of Queen 
Elizabeth, my sovereign lady, and maiden queen.” They have since been 
called Davis’ Southern Islands, but in later years the first designation given 
them by Davis is maintained. After leaving Falkland Islands, the misfortunes 
which drove Davis there did not abate, for in steering westward again another 












398 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


storm arose of much greater severity, and which resulted in the loss of the 
pinnace, and a tearing away of all the sails and main-mast of the Desire. In 
addition to this disaster, the ships lost their course, and the sky being con¬ 
tinually overcast Davis was unable to ascertain his position. In this extremity, 
therefore, he had recourse to prayer, in which he continued for a considerable 
time, believing that his end must soon come; but singular to relate, while 
thus engaged, Providence seemed to have interposed in his favor, for the 
sun burst through the clouds, and the wind almost immediately began to lull; at 
which Davis arose from his knees, and, first returning thanks to God, took an obser¬ 
vation which showed that he was not a great distance from Magellan Strait, 
and taking new courage, he repaired his shattered sails, set up a new mast, 
and on the nth of October entered the mouth of the strait. But in reaching 
this harbor the crew was in a really pitiable condition, being long without 
proper nourishment, and exposed to a bitter cold, which so benumbed them 
that for sometime afterwards their flesh appeared to be dead and insensible 
to feeling. They found shelter in a cove for a few days, but provisions still 
being extremely scarce, they were compelled to continue their course, steering 
out again, intending to put back to Port Desire, if possible. After ten days’ 
sailing on a stormy sea, they reached the desired haven, and on Penguin 
Island they found such an abundance of birds, that without difficulty they 
killed a number sufficient to supply them with meat in great abundance for 
more than a month thereafter, for like sorry fates had befallen many others on 
that crime-infested shore. 

THE DOG-FACED MEN OF PATAGONIA. 

Davis relates that one day while most of his men were absent on their 
several duties on shore, a multitude of the natives showed themselves, throwing 
dust upon their heads, “ leaping and running like brute beasts, having vizors 
on their faces in resemblance of dogs, or else their faces were those of dogs 
themselves. We greatly feared lest they should set the ship on fire, for they 
would suddenly make fire, whereat we much marvelled. They came to wind¬ 
ward of our ship, and set the bushes on fire, so that we were in a very stink¬ 
ing smoke; but as soon as they came within reach of our guns, we shot at 
them, and striking one of them in the thigh, they all presently fled, and we 
never saw them more.” The reader of Cook’s voyages will discover a pas¬ 
sage relating to the New Guineans, describing the singular manner in which 
they produced a fire or smoke out of pieces of cane which they carried; in 
this particular very much resembling the reference which Davis makes to 
the sudden fire made by the natives about Port Desire. It was at this place 
also that nine of the seamen, whom Davis charged with having incited a 
mutiny, went on shore, and were never seen again. Whether they fell 
victims to the anger of the Indians, or were secretly murdered by orders of 
Davis himself, history has not been able to give particulars, as either sup¬ 
position is a reasonable one. 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


399 


A PLAGUE OF WORMS. 

On the 2 2d of December Davis sailed for Brazil with a store of 14,000 
dried penguins, but in the beginning of February, in an attempt to obtain 
provisions at the Island of Placenzia, which is along the coast of Brazil, thir¬ 
teen of his men were killed by Indians and Portuguese, and thus out of an 
original company of seventy, only twenty-seven were now left to man the De¬ 
sire. From thence they steered for England, but were the sport of baffling 
winds, and made such slow progress that their store of fresh water ran short, 
and the weather being excessively warm, the dried penguins upon which they 
depended for subsistence began to corrupt, u and ugly loathesome worms of an 
inch long were bred in them.” This plague is thus described by Mr. Purchas, 
the historian of the expedition: “ This worm did so mightily increase, and 
devour our victuals, that there was in reason no hope how we should avoid 
famine, but be devoured by the wicked creatures. There was nothing that they 
did not devour, iron only excepted, our clothes, hats, boots, shirts, and stock¬ 
ings. And for the ship, they did eat the timbers ; so that we greatly feared 
they would undo us by eating through the ship’s side. Great was the care 
and diligence of our captain, master, and company, to consume these vermin; 
but the more we labored to kill them, the more they increased upon us; so 
that at last we could not sleep for them, for they would eat our flesh like mos¬ 
quitoes.” This plague of worms was not the only sore distress into which the 
crew fell, for most of them were now attacked by strange and horrible diseases 
that temporarily destroyed reason, so that more than one-half of the crew were 
at one time raving maniacs. This sorry condition was no doubt superinduced 
by the want of water, for heavy rain shortly afterwards falling gave them a 
temporary supply, and many speedily recovered. But eleven died between the 
coast of Brazil and Bear Haven in Ireland, so that only sixteen survived, and 
only five of these were able to work the ship into the home port. 

CAVENDISH’S EXCORIATION OF DAVIS. 

And now to return to Cavendish, whose opinion of Davis seems to have 
been substantiated by the verification of his prophecy; for as he declared would 
come to pass, Davis did return to Port Desire after a passage of the straits, 
and there provisioning himself in the manner described, set out upon a return 
to England, thus wilfully abandoning the Admiral with whom he had sailed. 
Thus iu speaking of Davis and his conduct, Cavendish, in his letter already re¬ 
ferred to, writes: “And now to come to that villain, that hath been the death 
of me and the decay of this whole action, I mean Davis, whose only treachery 
in running from me hath been utter ruin of all, if any good return by him, 
if ever you love me, make such friends, as he, least of all others, may reap 
least gain (a little confused). I assure myself you will be careful in all friend¬ 
ship of my last requests. My debts which be owing be not much; but I (most 
unfortunate villain!) was matched with the most abject-minded and mutinous 
company that ever was carried out of England by any man living. The short 


400 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. - 


of all is this, Davis’ only intention was utterly to overthrow me, which he 
hath well performed.” 

After the Desire and Black pinnace had separated from the fleet, as before 
described, the Leicester and Roebuck shaped their course for Brazil, but reaching 
thirty degrees south latitude they encountered a dreadful storm and were 
parted. Cavendish on the galleon made land at the Bay of St. Vincent, where 
he lay awaiting the Roebuck, having previously arranged to meet at a point 
thereabout in case of their separation for any cause. While lying in this bay 
a considerable party of Cavendish’s men, in open defiance of his orders, went on 
shore to forage for provisions and incidentally to plunder the houses of the 
Portuguese farmers in the vicinity. While engaged in this freebooting enter¬ 
prise, the Indians assembled in considerable force and cut the English off, kill¬ 
ing twenty-four men and an officer and demolished the boat in which they had 
reached the shore, thus leaving Cavendish without either boat or pinnace. 
Shortly after, the Roebuck reached the bay in an almost dismantled condition, 
being destitute of masts and sails, and in despair of being able to rebuild her, 
Cavendish entertained an idea of sinking her, but on intimation of such intention 
he was violently opposed by the crews of both vessels, who, in the pressing 
emergency, were unwilling to part with even so sorry a hulk as the Roebuck 
now appeared to be, their ambition being to attack as speedily as possible some 
wandering vessel of the Portuguese, and in case of an engagement they correctly 
believed that the Roebuck might be as advantageous as though she were more 
seaworthy. 

THE ENGLISH DEFEATED BY THE PORTUGUESE. 

It was only a few days thereafter that the English had an opportunity of 
putting their valor to the test and carrying out their resolution, for, discovering 
three Portuguese ships in. the harbor of Spirito Santo, they carefully planned 
an attack and at what they believed an auspicious time opened a broadside fire 
on the three surprised vessels. But they had not properly measured their ad¬ 
versaries, for, instead of striking their flags, the Portuguese replied promptly to the 
guns of their adversaries and after an hour’s engagement they beat the English, 
killing thirty-eight and wounding forty others of the eighty that were manning 
the two vessels, thus leaving only two of the English uninjured. Several of 
those who were wounded, however, were not entirely incapacitated for duty, but 
this fatal adventure so very much reduced his force that Cavendish had barely 
as many efficient men as could raise the anchor. To add to his already accu¬ 
mulated misfortunes, the Roebuck, unseaworthy as she certainly was, forsook 
him, the company of that ship being resolved now to return home, and, though 
the wounded lay in his vessel, they carried off the two surgeons and a great 
part of the common stores. In this distressing condition Cavendish managed to 
reach the uninhabited Island of St. Sebastian, where he contrived to build two 
boats and obtain a seasonable supply of water of which he was in great need. 

Having refreshed himself and many of the wounded, despite the poor atten- 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


401 



tion which they had received, recovering, Cavendish had a great desire to return 
to the straits, and used all his persuasive influence to induce his company to 
undertake the voyage, appealing to their cupidity, with assurances that they 
would be able to take valuable merchantmen after they had once passed the 
straits and reached the South Sea, while to return home in their beggarly and 
wretched condition must expose them to the taunts of all the English people. 
But all his arguments were of no avail, for not one of them would consent to 

continue the enterprise, being, 
to a man, resolved to hasten 
home as speedily as possible. 
Being thus opposed, Cavendish 
had recourse to stratagem, for, 
as he was the only one on the 
ship capable of directing her 
course s he gave his men to un¬ 
derstand that he would not 
leave the island until his crew 
promised obedience to his or¬ 
ders; and the better to enforce 
his commands, he seized one of 
those who most strenuously op¬ 
posed his wishes, and with his 
own hands adjusting a rope 
about his neck was resolved to 
act the part of an executioner; 
whereat others of the crew, per¬ 
ceiving their commander to be 
in no humor to be trifled with, 
promised that if he would release 
the unfortunate man, they would 
accompany him in any course 
that he resolved to take. 


ANOTHER MASSACRE OF CAVENDISH’S 
MEN. 

Directly afterwards Caven- 
removing the sick and wounded. dish boldly avowed his intention 

of returning to the straits, but on the way landed at another island where he 
put his soldiers and carpenters to work building a new boat, while the sailors were 
set to the labor of mending and patching up the rigging and tackles of the ship. 
But so changeable had been the disposition of his men that Cavendish suspected 
.treachery and betrayed the greatest anxiety that his crew should desert him on 
reaching land, or openly mutiny and force him back to England. Some of the 
wounded had not yet recovered, and these he left for a while longer on the 










402 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


island, knowing that rest and attention there would result in their restoration 
much sooner than if compelled to submit to the hardships which they must 
undergo in a voyage through the straits. The island upon which they were 
stopping was scarcely more than a mile from the Brazilian mainland, where 
there was a considerable settlement of Portuguese who had been spectators of 
all the proceedings of the ship’s company during the building of the boat. 
Shortly before wood and water were got on board, an Irishman, who was a 
member of the crew, having taken some deep affront at Cavendish, contrived to 
go over to the continent upon a raft and betray his defenceless comrades to the 
Portuguese. This was done in the night-time, and, besides those employed on 
the island and the sick, there chanced to be several men ashore who frequently 
stole away from the ship at night to enjoy the freedom of the land, not in the 
least suspecting any attack from the Portuguese, who up to this time, though 
unfriendly, had exhibited no hostile intention. But those who chanced to be on 
shore were attacked about two o’clock in the morning by a large party of Portu¬ 
guese, and all were indiscriminately slaughtered. A sail which had been 
repaired lay on shore, and this the attacking party also seized, which added 
greatly to the serious loss sustained by the murder of his men; and thus the 
unfortunate Cavendish writes: 

“ I was forced to depart, fortune never ceasing to lay her greatest adversi¬ 
ties upon me. And now I am grown so weak that I am scarce able to hold 
the pen in my hand; wherefore I must leave you to inquire of the rest of our 
most unhappy proceedings. But know this, that for the strait I could by no 
means get my company to keep their consent to go. In truth I desired nothing 
more than to attempt that course, rather desiring to die in going forward than 
basely in returning back again; but God would not suffer me to die so happy 
a man.” These “unhappy proceedings” to which he refers may, so far as they 
are known, be very briefly noticed. An attempt was made to reach the island 
of St. Helena, for which the company had reluctantly consented to steer only 
on Cavendish solemnly declaring that to England he would never go; and that 
if they refused to take such course as he intended, the ship and all should 
sink in the sea together. This, as before related, made them more tractable; 
but having reached twenty degrees south latitude they refused to proceed any 
further, choosing rather to die where they were than to starve in searching 
for an island which they declared could never be found again. But the argu¬ 
ments and influence of Cavendish were not yet entirely exhausted, and finally 
he prevailed upon them to proceed southward again, and in dreadful weather 
he beat back to twenty-eight degrees south, and then stood for St. Helena, 
which was unfortunately missed, owing to contrary winds and the unskilfulness 
of the sailing master. 

LETTER OF THE DYING ADMIRAL. 

Having found himself a considerable distance from the island he made 
one more effort to induce his crew, which had now grown more mutinous, to 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


403 


proceed in quest of the island, alarming them with the scarcity of provisions; 
but with one voice they answered him that they would rather perish than not 
make for England. The rest of the record concerning this unfortunate expe¬ 
dition is fragmentary, since Cavendish died, as it is believed, of a broken 
heart before reaching England, and no satisfactory account could ever be gath¬ 
ered from those who had survived the expedition. His letter, from which we 
have quoted, was not closed when the galleon reached eight degrees north. 
From its commencement—and it must have been written at many different 
sittings—Cavendish had considered himself a dying man. It opens with great 
tenderness: “ Most loving friend, there is nothing in this world that makes a 
truer trial of friendship than at death to show mindfulness of love and friend¬ 
ship, which now you shall make a perfect experience of; desiring you to hold 
my love as dear, dying poor, as if I had been most infinitely rich. The success 
of this most unfortunate action, the bitter torments whereof lie so heavy 
upon me, as with much pain am I able to write these few lines, much less 
make discourse to you of all the adverse haps that have befallen me in this 
voyage, the least whereof is my death.” He adverts to the illness of “ a most 
true friend, whom to name my heart bleeds,” who, like himself, became the 
victim of the complicated distresses of this voyage. After the crowning misfor¬ 
tune of missing St. Helena, he says: “ And now to tell you of my greatest 
grief, which was the sickness of my dear kinsman, John Locke, who by this 
time was grown in great weakness, by reason whereof he desired rather quiet¬ 
ness and contentedness in our course, than such continual disquietness as 
never ceased me. And now by this time, what with grief for him and the 
continual trouble I endured among such hell-hounds, my spirits were clean 
spent wishing myself upon any desert place in the world, there to die, rather 
than thus basely return home again. Which course, I swear to you, I had put 
in execution had I found an island which the cardes (charts) make to be in 
eight degrees south of the line. I swear to you I sought it with all diligence, 
meaning there to have ended my most unfortunate life. But God suffered 
not such happiness to light upon me, for I could by no means find it; so as I 
was forced to go towards England, and having got eight degrees by the north of 
the line I lost my dearest cousin. And now consider whether a heart made of 
flesh be able to endure so many misfortunes, all falling upon me without 
intermission. And I thank my God that in ending me he hath pleased to rid 
me of all farther troubles and mishaps.” The rest of the letter refers to his private 
concerns, and especially to the discharge of his debts and the arrangement of 
his affairs for this purpose, an act of friendship which he expected from the 
kindness of the gentlemen whom he addressed. It then takes an affecting fare¬ 
well of life and of the friend for whom he cherished so warm an affection. 

THE CHARACTER OF CAVENDISH. 

In his two voyages Cavendish experienced the greatest extremes of fortune; 
his first adventure being both brilliant and successful while the last, chiefly 


404 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 



through the bad discipline and evil dispositions of his company, was disastrous 
and unhappy. Cavendish was still very young when he died. No naval com¬ 
mander ever more certainly sunk under the disease to which so many brave 
men have fallen victims,—a broken heart. In many things his conduct dis¬ 
covered the rashness and impetuosity of youth, and the want of that temper and 
self-command which are among the first qualities of a naval chief. The reproach 
of cruelty, or at least of culpable indifference to the claims of humanity, which, 
from transactions in both voyages, and especially in the first, must rest upon his 
memory, ought in justice to be shared with the age in which he lived, and 
the state of moral feeling among the class to which he belonged by birth. 
By the aristocracy “ the vulgar,” “ the common sort,” were still regarded as 
creatures of a different and inferior species; while among the seamen the de¬ 
struction of Spaniards and Portuguese was regarded as a positive virtue. By all 
classes, negroes, Indians and foreigners, were in no more esteem than brute ani¬ 
mals,—human life as existing in beings so abject being regarded as of no value 
whatever. But if Cavendish was tinged with the faults of his class, he partook 
largely of its virtues,—high spirit, courage, and intrepidity. Those who might 
be led to judge of some points of his conduct with strictness, will be disposed 
to lenity by the recollections of his sufferings. As an English navigator his 
name is imperishable. On the authority of the accurate and veracious Stowe, 
we may in conclusion state, that Thomas Cavendish “ was of a delicate wit and 
personage.” 




CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

VOYAGE OF MONS. DE BOUGAINVILLE. 



OREMOST among the distinguished of early 
French voyagers was Louis Antoine de Bou¬ 
gainville, born in 1729 and deceased in 1811. 
He was of wealthy parentage, and had such 
advantages, which he diligently improved, that 
after entering the military service as aid-de- 
camp to Gen. Chevert he gave his spare time 
to the preparation of a work on integral cal¬ 
culus, the highest branch of mathematics, which 
he published before he was scarce twenty-five 
years of age. He afterwards acted as secretary 
of the French Embassy to London, and in 1756 
served in the war between Canada and France, as 
aid-de-camp to Montcalm. In 1761 he was in a 
short campaign on the Rhine, where he displayed great bravery, and early 
in 1763 he entered the navy, but as his country was then at peace, he sought 
and obtained permission to establish a settlement on the Falkland Islands, at 
his own expense, but the attempt proved a disastrous failure. 

The Falkland Islands, called by Bougainville Isles Malouines, having sub¬ 
sequently been the subject of much dispute, after an attempt originally made by 
the French King and then by Bougainville to settle them, it was at last in 1764 
decided to accede to a demand made by Spain, who claimed them as an appendage 
to South America, and to surrender their possession to the Spaniards. Mons. 
de Bougainville, a member of the French Embass}' and afterwards an attache 
of the court of Napoleon, was accordingly commissioned to execute the official 
transfer. Under the instructions of his government, he set sail for South America 
on the 15th of November, 1766. His fleet consisted of three vessels, named the 
Boudeuse, Esmeralda, and the Liebre. Owing to contrary winds and false 
reckoning, Bougainville did not arrive at the Rio de La Plata until the 30th of 
January, when he came to anchor in the Bay of Montevideo on the following 
day, where he found two Spanish ships awaiting him and on one of which he 
found Don Philip Ruis Puente who had been appointed provisional governor 
of the Falkland Islands; owing to the excessively stormy weather, it became 
necessary for the two to make a land journey to Buenos Ayres in order to settle 
with the viceroy there the terms and conditions of the cession. The country being 
wild, there were no roads, and the guides which they took with them served 
them indifferently well. During the expedition Bougainville and Puente slept 

(405) 













406 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


in small hovels, covered over with the skins of wild animals, while their con¬ 
dition was not improved by the hideous howlings of savage beasts during the 
night. Coming to the river St. Lucia, which was wide, deep, and extremely 
rapid, their only means of crossing was a long, narrow canoe, which, singu¬ 
larly enough, was propelled across by attaching horses to either side, which 
were made to swim and tow the canoe with them. The canoe not being large 
enough to accommodate the party, one of the attaches made the crossing on the 
back of a horse, but barely escaped drowning, being washed far down by the 
turbulency of the stream. But without serious adventure they arrived at Buenos 
Ayres and transacted their business with the viceroy to the satisfaction of 



A THRILLING ADVENTURE ON THE ST. LUCIA. 


both governments. Bougainville then returned to Montevideo, and assisted the 
new Spanish governor of the Falkland Islands in transferring a number of cattle 
to the islands; but this was not accomplished without very great difficulty, 
owing to the disastrous storms that drove the ships about at their mercy, 
almost dismantling them, and besides killing a greater number of the cattle 
in making the passage. 

TROUBLE WITH THE SPANISH VICEROY. 

After waiting at the Falkland Islands until June, 1767, in the expectation 
of a supply-ship reaching him at that point, and being disappointed in her ar¬ 
rival, Bougainville returned to Montevideo which had been appointed as a meet- 














UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


407 


ing place, in case the supply-ship for any reason was not able to reach the 
Falkland Islands at the time fixed upon when he departed from Brest; for, in 
addition to his orders to perfect the cession of the islands to the Spaniards, 
he had additional commands from the French King to accomplish, if possible, a 
voyage around the world, in the expectation of attaching new lands to the French 
crown. 

Directly after Bougainville’s return to Montevideo, the supply-ship Etoile 

arrived with provisions sufficient to 
last the expedition nearly two years 
whereupon Bougainville directly 
began his preparations for an 
early start for the South Seas. 
But though the viceroy had been 
very obliging in his demeanor, 
and signified his consent to a re¬ 
quest made by Bougainville for 
permission to purchase a sloop, he 
afterwards changed his mind, and 
interposed a hundred obstacles to 
prevent the French from getting 
certain necessary supplies which 
could only be had from the Span¬ 
iards, and in every way showed 
his intention of detaining them 
as long as possible. It was, there¬ 
fore, not until the middle of No¬ 
vember that Bougainville took 
his departure from Montevideo 
and sailed to the Island of St. 
Elizabeth. Though the wind was 
fair at their departure, two days 
later the sea ran high, and a 
storm came on which lasted for 
more than a week, and resulted 
in great damage to the vessels as 
well as the loss of a considerable 
part of their provisions, which became water-soaked. But they had the good for¬ 
tune to reach the Cape of Virgins, on the Patagonian coast, without more serious 
mishap, and running southward, after other difficulties, they entered Magellan’s 
Strait on the 4th of December. 

A RECEPTION BY PATAGONIANS. 

While the ship was passing through the strait, the French observed on 
shore a number of Patagonian horsemen, partially clothed in the skins of beasts, 



BOUGAINVILLE PASSING THE STRAIT OF MAGELLAN. 















408 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


who ran at their best speed in order to keep pace with the vessels. They also 
carried a small white flag, which had been carefully preserved for many years, 
having been a present to them by some Spaniards who had landed on their 
shores in one of the early voyages. At length, finding a suitable anchorage in 
Boucault’s Bay, several officers from the two vessels, the Etoile and Boudeuse, 
first providing themselves with arms, went on shore. Scarcely had the officers 
landed when half a dozen of the natives made their appearance on horses, riding 
at full speed, and when within fifty yards of the French they dismounted and 
came forward, pronouncing a word of welcome. Bougainville received from these 
Patagonians a number of the skins of guanacos and other beasts, in exchange 
for trinkets on which they set a great value. Some of the Frenchmen having 
red clothes on, the natives advanced and exhibited their delight at the gay 
coloring, by affectionately stroking them. The Patagonians seemed to be familiar 
with fire-arms and tobacco, but when a small quantity of brandy was given each 
of them, they no sooner drank it than they struck their hands repeatedly against 
their throats and blew with their mouths in a manner to produce a kind of 
trembling sound, at the conclusion of which they had a singular quivering of the 
lips, altogether exhibiting their great alarm for the consequences. Thereafter 
Bougainville landed at several points on both the shores of Terra del Fuego 
and of Patagonia, everywhere meeting with generous hospitality from the natives, 
who appeared to receive the French with great veneration. 

FUEGAN CONJURERS MINISTER TO A FATALLY INJURED BOY. 

This treatment, and mutually profitable exchange, continued for nearly a 
month, until one day the crews of the boats landed and went to the house of 
some of the Terra del Fuegans, who entertained their guests with dancing and 
singing until their mirth was interrupted by an accident as fatal as it was 
unexpected. A boy of one of the Fuegans was discovered to be suddenly seized 
with a great pain which increased until he was thrown into violent convulsions 
and the spitting of blood. It was soon ascertained that the boy had been on 
the Etoile, where he had been presented by a seaman with some pieces of glass, 
and as it is the custom of the natives to put such things tip their nostrils or 
into their mouths, it was immediately concluded that the child had thus dis¬ 
posed of the pieces of glass from the effects of which he was now suffering. 
It may be also added that the Fuegans have been frequently known to swallow 
a substance resembling glass, probably pieces of shell, as a preventative remedy 
against certain disorders to which they are liable. The lips, palate and gums 
of the boy were severely cut, and as he was bleeding freely the Indians con¬ 
ceived an idea that the French had treated him with some violence, which gave 
rise to a distrust that speedily manifested itself, for as the boy wore a linen 
jacket which had been given to him by a seaman, it was torn off of him by a 
native and thrown violently at the feet of Bougainville. Being unwilling to 
trust to the surgical skill of their visitors, some of the natives proposed to ad¬ 
minister to the wants of the suffering child. This was done by laying the boy 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


409 


upon his back, whereupon a conjurer knelt between his legs, and pressing the 
body forcibly with his hands, uttered a number of inarticulate vociferations. At 
repeated intervals during this ceremony the conjurer arose, and opening his 
hands which had been before closed, he blew in the air with the purpose of 
driving away some evil spirit with which he believed the boy to be afflicted. 
This superstitious treatment was assisted by an ancient native woman who 
shouted at the utmost of her voice into the ears of the child, probably suppos¬ 
ing that by this means the evil that afflicted him might be driven away. But 



INCANTATIONS TO RELIEVE AN INJURED BOY, 


the condition of the boy remaining unimproved, the conjurer after a while re¬ 
tired, and then returned dressed in a very singular disguise;—his hair had been 
whitened with powdered chalk and upon his head he wore two wings taken 
from a bird, while his body was painted in various colors, and thus attired he 
repeated his incantations and blew clouds of tobacco smoke upon the suf¬ 
ferer, but with no better success than before. Seeing that the boy was in 
a dying condition, all the natives manifested their sympathy in a flood of 
tears, which excited like compassion in the French, seeing which the 



410 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


Fuegans mitigated their distrust and at length permitted the surgeon to exam¬ 
ine the mouth of the youth. But examination showed that the glass had evidently 
been swallowed and that nothing further could be done to relieve him, and the boy 
died at two o’clock the following morning. At his expiration the natives set 
up loud cries which they continued until daybreak, and then took their de¬ 
parture from the place which had been so peculiarly fatal to them. Nor could 
they be induced to return and renew their friendly relations with the French. 

DISCOVERIES IN THE SOUTH SEAS. 

On the 26th of Januaty, 1768, and after a passage of seven weeks and 
three days, Bougainville emerged from the Strait of Magellan, the length of 
which is computed at 340 miles. Being well provisioned, and his ships in good 
order, he started directly upon his journey across the Pacific, in accordance with 
the orders of his king. His immediate quest was for what was called Davis’ 
land, which was said to have been first seen by some Frenchmen in 1686. 
But Bougainville was unable to discover any islands at a point laid down in the 
chart which he carried; nor did he see any land until the latter part of March, 
when he came upon four very small islands to which he gave the name of The 
Facardins. But though he observed on the shore tempting cocoa-nut groves 
and a great abundance of beautiful flowers, as well as of birds, in the absence 
of a suitable harbor he continued on his course without landing. Two days 
later he came in sight of another small island, upon the shore of which he 
discovered a number of natives bearing long lances, who, at the sight of the 
vessel, disappeared in the thick woods which there abounded. Along the coast 
were dangerous breakers, which caused Bougainville to stand off for a day, 
hoping that some of the natives would put out to visit him in canoes. But 
being disappointed, he continued around the island, but nowhere finding a 
suitable anchorage, he was compelled to abandon the idea of landing. There¬ 
after, he found several other islands, which he named, but was unable to conduct 
a personal investigation, owing to the uninviting and tempestuous weather 
which he continually encountered. About this time his crew was attacked 
with scurvy, the evil effects of which, however, he successfully combatted by the 
issuing of a pint of lemonade and a powder specially recommended to each 
of the men, and in the adoption of wise sanitary measures. His supply of fresh 
water also ran short, which compelled him to the experiment of distilling sea 
water. The method he adopted is not described, but it seems to have been 
successful; for he used the water thus procured in boiling meat and making 
broth, though he relates that he was compelled to use salt water in the making 
of bread. 

A PLEASANT INTERCOURSE WITH ISLANDERS. 

On the 4th of April ‘Bougainville observed another large island, at which 
he purposed landing, in a horse-shoe, forming a fine bay, and which promised 
a fine anchorage. While his ships were standing in towards the land, a boat 
was seen approaching, which directly after crossed ahead of the ship, and joined 



UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


411 


a number of other canoes which had assembled as if intent on either attacking 
the ship or welcoming its passengers. Out of this assemblage of boats pro¬ 
ceeded one which was rowed by twelve Indians, all of whom were naked, but 
it advanced toward the ship and the occupants held up branches of the banana 
tree, which Bougainville considering as tokens of friendship, he endeavored to 
express his peaceful intentions by waving a white cloth ; whereupon the natives 
rowed alongside the Boudeuse, and a rope being lowered to the canoe, one of the 

islanders affixed to it a branch 
of the banana tree and a quan¬ 
tity of the fruit, and also a small 
pig, in return for which Bou¬ 
gainville threw down to the oc¬ 
cupants of the canoe several 
hankerchiefs and caps, after 
which a friendly intercourse im¬ 
mediately began between the 
natives and their white visitors. 
Seeing their friends so well en¬ 
tertained, the other islanders, 
who had awaited the result of 
the visit of those sent on before, 
now row r ed down upon the ship, 
until presently it was surrounded 
by more than a hundred boats 
laden with bananas, cocoa-nuts, 
and fruits of various kinds, 
which they eagerly exchanged 
with the French for such trin¬ 
kets and articles as their .visit¬ 
ors had to give. Bougainville 
describes the place of his an¬ 
chorage as being a most delight¬ 
ful and safe spot, within a per¬ 
fect horse-shoe, while the shores 
of the island rose to great 
heights, and were everywhere 
clothed with the finest verdure. The coast, which was level ground, was 
sheltered by mountains, and abounded with cocoa-nut and other trees, be¬ 
neath the inviting shades of which were situated the houses of the in¬ 
habitants. A short distance from this harbor, he saw a silvery cascade breaking 
through a high cleft of a mountain, and dashing down into the sea, producing 
at once a remarkable and magnificent effect. On the following day, the natives 
came back to the ships in even greater numbers than before, bringing with 


















412 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 



them, in addition to fruits such as they had previously bartered, fowls, pigeons, 
cloths of bark, shells, and other things, which they eagerly exchanged for ear¬ 
rings and pieces of iron. 

FEMALE BEAUTY UNADORNED. 

The historian of the voyage writes: “ These parties dealt with the same ease 
and mutual confidence as they had done on the preceding day; and among the 
number of visitors were several women whose clothes barely sufficed to hide 
those charms which could not fail to attract the ravished eyes of the seamen. 
One of the Indians slept all night on board the Etoile and seemed not to enter- 


OTAHEITE harbor, where BOUGAINVIEEE ANCHORED.— (From an old copper print.) 

tain a shadow of fear. On the third day the boats put out in even greater 
number, and were crowded with young women whose beauty of face was at 
least equal to that* of the ladies of Europe, and their symmetry of body was 
superior. Almost all of them were naked, the old men and women having 
taken previous care to divest them of those coverings which might otherwise 
have prevented their charms from taking the wished for effect.” 

Despite the efforts of Bougainville and the officers of the vessel, some of 
these beautiful island women contrived to get on board the ships, and their 
presence served to throw the crews into a wild disorder; and Bougainville him¬ 
self makes confessions in nowise creditable to his strength of will under sore 















UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


413 


temptation. Finding the natives so hospitably inclined, and their island so 
productive, Bougainville and some of his officers went on shore with the pur¬ 
pose of obtaining a supply of water and to familiarize themselves with the pro¬ 
ductions of the island. No sooner had they landed than the natives flocked 
around them in incredible numbers, regarding them with looks of inexpressible 
curiosity. Some of the natives, bolder than the rest, came and touched the 
French, and actually tore off their clothes in order to find if they were formed 
like themselves. But they offered them no further indignity and seemed to 
have been ashamed of taking so much liberty. Among the great number that 
had assembled, Bougainville observed one very old islander, who appeared to be 
a chief, in which .conjecture he was not disappointed; for presently receiving 
an invitation, he retired with the chief to his house, and received many manifes¬ 
tations of a tender hospitality. The old man was a truly venerable figure, whose 
long white beard and hair added dignity to his person, which was exceedingly 
graceful and well formed. He had none of the decrepitude of age; no wrinkles 
were on his face, and his body was smooth and fleshy. 

ENTERTAINED BY AN AGED CHIEF. 

The house of this chief was very large, being as much as 20 feet in width 
and 80 in length, and was covered with a thatch, from which hung a cylinder 
adorned with black feathers; but the purpose of this strange figure Bougain¬ 
ville was not able to ascertain. There were also observed two wooden figures, 
which served as idols, but he was unable to determine what kind of devotions 
the islanders paid to them. Having gratified his curiosity in observing the 
house and its furnishing, Bougainville was invited by the chief to a feast, 
which was provided on a grass-plat in front of the residence, where was set be¬ 
fore him a collation of broiled fish, game, and cold water, and a variety of fruits. 
While the French were regaling themselves, the chief caused to be produced 
two collars, formed of osiers, and adorned with sharks’ teeth and black feathers. 
These collars resembled the prodigious ruffs in the reign of Francis the First, 
and were put upon the necks of Bougainville and the gentlemen of his party, 
as a testimony of the honor which the chief felt for the visit which they had 
paid him. 

Retiring to his ship after the feast, Bougainville was visited by many other 
natives, and on the following day the chief himself came on board, and was 
treated to an entertainment in the evening, in which a band of musicians dis¬ 
coursed European airs to the great delight of the natives. Thereafter there was 
a display of fire-works, at which, however, the natives were more terrified than 
delighted. The name of the chief who had thus so agreeably treated Bougain¬ 
ville was Ereti, who never tired of paying attention to his French visitors; and 
every condition being so inviting for a long stay on the island, the commander 
decided to pitch his tents on shore there and remain for at least a period of 
eighteen days. At first, there was some distrust exhibited by the natives, who 
seemed to entertain the suspicion that the French intended to take permanent 


414 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE EANDS. 


possession of their beautiful island, but iipon being assured to the contrary, 
they omitted no effort to administer to the comfort and pleasure of their visitors. 

A TRAGEDY ENDS THE VISIT. 

Bougainville took the necessary precautions to insure his safety in case of 
hostility, but those provisions proved entirely unnecessary; for very soon the 
trustfulness of the French was such that they went about freely, unarmed, in 
any part of the island which they wished to visit, and considerable expeditions 
were undertaken to remote parts, by which journeys the French were enabled 
to obtain a thorough knowledge of the productions and topographical character¬ 
istics of the islands as well as of the habits of the natives. But to the shame 
of the voyagers, it must be said that they availed themselves of liberties which 
reflect severely upon the morals of the commander; and, worse yet, these viola¬ 
tions of decency are reported by Bougainville in such language as would bring 
a blush to the face of any refined reader. 

Towards the latter part of their visit, the French fell into some difficulty 
by unfortunate misunderstandings, which resulted in the killing of four of the 
natives. The circumstances of the tragedy, however, were not fully ascertained 
by Bougainville; but he reconciled the natives, who had fled from his camp in 
terror, by assurances of his intention to punish the perpetrators, and by gifts 
of large quantities of cloths aud silks to the chief. Trouble with the natives 
being overcome, Bougainville was congratulating himself on its fortunate termi¬ 
nation when suddenly his peaceful prospects were disturbed by a violent storm, 
which caused the hawser of the Etoile to part, and which drove that vessel 
down on to the Boudeuse. For a while it appeared that both ships must certainly 
be destroyed. At the most critical moment, however, the wind veered, which 
enabled the crew to cast another anchor, and save the vessels from further 
drifting. 





CHAPTER XXXIX. 


AN EXCURSION AMONG ISLANDS OF THE SOUTH SEA. 

-E ships having been well provisioned with 140 hogs, 
800 fowls, besides a great abundance of fruit and a 
fresh supply of water taken on board, Bougainville 
prepared to take his departure from the island, which 
the historian of the voyage thus describes : “ Soon 

after dawn of the morning, when the Indians ob¬ 
served that their visitors were making preparations 
for their departure, Ereti came hastily on board in 
the first boat that was ready. He now clasped in 
his arms, embraced and wept over those new-made 
acquaintances whom he was about to part with for¬ 
ever. This scene was scarcely ended, when a larger 
were the wives of the generous chief, came along-side 
the ship, laden with a variety of refreshments. This vessel like¬ 
wise brought off the Indian who, on their first arrival, had slept on 
board the Etoile. This man was called Aotourou. Ereti presented him to 
Mons. Bougainville, intimating his determined resolution to sail with the strangers 
and entreating permission that he might do so. This request being complied with, 
Ereti presented him to the officers respectively, saying that he trusted a well-beloved 
friend to the care and protection of friends equally beloved. Ereti having accepted 
some presents returned to the boat in which were a number of weeping beauties, 
made still more charming by their tears. With him went Aotourou, to take a 
melancholy leave of a lovely damsel, the dear object of his regard. He took three 
pearls from his ears, which he delivered as a love-token to the desponding beauty, 
embraced her affectionately, tore himself from her arms, and left it to time and 
tears to restore her serenity of mind. Who that reads this narrative can sup¬ 
pose that an Indian has less dignity of soul than a European! 

AMONG THE FIJIANS, 

The island at which Bougainville had been so agreeably entertained proved 
to be Otaheite, of the Society Group, first discovered by Quiros in 1607, but 
which Bougainville now took possession of in the name of France and called it 
La Nouvelle Cythere, and to the group he gave the appellation Bourbon Archi¬ 
pelago. Besides a pleasant visit, Bougainville had increased his fortune by 
the accession of Aotourou to the expedition whose assistance proved of ines¬ 
timable value, since through him as interpreter the French were able to 
converse with the natives of many other islands which they afterwards visited. 

(415) 





416 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


On the 16th of April, 1768, a memorable date in his life, Bougainville took 
his departure from Otaheite and proceeded on his voyage but he saw no 
other land until he came to one of the Fijis, at which he had a mind 
to stop, but could not at once find any safe harbor in which to put. He saw 
several houses along the shore, and presently a canoe put out towards his 
vessel, but could not be induced to approach closer than several hundred yards. 

After a while, however, several 
other boats advanced towards the 
ship, some of them being rowed 
and others sailing. But though 
they came to the ship’s side, 
all inducements which Bougain¬ 
ville could offer were unavailing 
to induce them to come on board. 
Nearly all their canoes were 
provided with outriggers, and 
the men showed themselves to 
be consummate boatmen. They 
exchanged pieces of a very fine 
shell, yams and cocoa-nuts for 
some pieces of red cloth, but 
they betrayed no desire for ear¬ 
rings, knives, nails, nor for iron 
of any kind. They were all 
provided with weapons, consist¬ 
ing of lances and clubs, and their 
appearance was altogether so un¬ 
inviting that the French had 
little disposition to trust them¬ 
selves among any great number 
of such people. 

DISCOVERY OF THE NAVIGATOR GROUP. 

The expedition accordingly 
continued in a westwardly course, 
Bougainville sighting the shores oe navigator group. an d G n the following day, another 
sight of land was obtained, which proved to be a beautiful island, consisting of 
alternate mountains and valleys, clothed with the most luxuriant verdure and 
shaded by lofty cocoa-nut trees. Many boats put off from this island and 
sailed or rowed about the ship, notwithstanding the vessel was at that time 
running at a speed of seven knots an hour. But, as before, the natives could 
not be persuaded to either come on board or attach their boats to the side of 
the vessel. In a few days more Bougainville touched at other islands, such as 
Heemskirk, Prince William, Amsterdam, and Rotterdam; and finding hereabout 































UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


417 


so many islands, he gave to the group the name of the Archipelago of the 
Navigators. Everywhere he found the coast so treacherous, and the islands so 
numerous, that he was compelled to use the greatest precaution to prevent the 
destruction of his vessel. To the fears excited by the great number of reefs and 
breakers, which seemed to be on every side, was added the equally great distress 
of sickness, and especially scurvy, which attacked nearly all the crew, and so 
inflamed their mouths that they were scarcely able to swallow any kind of 
refreshment. But although the sick recovered slowly, the ships were steered with 
such ^care and good fortune that they escaped the dangers which threatened, and 
on the morning of the 22d, two islands were discovered, one of which received the 
name of Aurora, from the early hour in which it was first seen, while to the other 
was given the name of Whitsuntide Island. Directly afterwards, the heads of 
other islands made their appearance, and Bougainville presently discovered that 
he was again in the midst of another archipelago. At one of these he made a 
stop, and sent some well-armed men in boats on shore to obtain a fresh supply 
of water. The natives received their visitors with great amity, and assisted 
them in the procuring of water and of wood. In the afternoon Bougainville 
himself went on shore with another party, and he likewise was courteously 
received, and was offered a supply of fruits by the inhabitants, who, however, 
refused to accept anything in exchange. The natives, while offering no aggres¬ 
sion, informed the French that they were at war with other islanders, which 
was their excuse for carrying so many weapons. But subsequent events indicated 
that the natives were suspicious of their visitors, and had treated them with 
amity with the hope of enticing them inland, when they would undoubtedly 
have fallen upon the French with savage fury; for, no sooner had Bougainville 
put off from shore in the boats, and the islanders discovered that their visitors 
had left them, than they rushed down and sent a shower of stones, arrows and 
lances at the retreating whites in return for which Bougainville ordered a dis¬ 
charge of muskets at the natives, many of whom were wounded, and the rest 
retreated precipitately to the woods. Bougainville gave to this land the name of 
Isle of Lepers, from observing that many of the inhabitants were afflicted with 
leprosy. He found the people of a mulatto color, although among the several 
whom he saw there were not a few who appeared to be of a perfect type of the 
negro, their hair woolly and generally black. Few women were seen, and those 
met with were as disagreeable in appearance as the men, and represented as being 
of low stature, ill-favored, and disproportionately made. But, unlike most of the 
other islanders, they clothed themselves, and decorated their coverings with 
elegant drawings in a fine dye of crimson. The noses of the men were pierced 
and hung with ornaments, and on the right arm of each was a bracelet apparently 
made of ivory, while pieces of tortoise shell were strung about their necks. Their 
weapons were clubs, stones, bows, and arrows, the latter being made of reeds 
pointed with bone, with inverted barbs which prevented the arrow being drawn 
from a wound without tearing the flesh. 

27 


418 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


A WOMAN DISGUISED AS A MAN FOUND AMONG THE CREW. 

Continuing the voyage, on the 23d other lands were discovered, which grew 
so numerous that the ships were forced to stop and send out boats, to make 
soundings, for reefs were plentiful on every side. Bougainville, indeed, says 
that the number of islands now seen was so great that they could not be 
counted, while the currents set in so swiftly at many places that the ships 
were unable to stem them, and in many, cases were carried almost to the 
shores, and were only checked by casting anchor. Several natives were ob¬ 
served, but none of them could be induced to approach the vessels in their 
boats, and when attempt was made to land with the ships’ boats, the islanders 
made a stout resistance, and they could only be repelled after the wounding 
of a great number. From these inhospitable shores and dangerous seas Bou¬ 
gainville at length contrived to escape, after giving to the group the name of 
the Archipelago of the great Cyclades. About this time a singular discovery 
was made on the ship Etoile. How it was brought about, however, the explorer 
neglects to mention: He states that suspicions were excited as to the sex of one 
of the crew of the Etoile, and examination readily proved that instead of a 
man, as her costume and manner represented, the suspect was a woman, and be¬ 
ing now exposed, with a flood of tears she told her remarkable story in this 
wise: Born in Burgundy and left an orphan, the fortune which had been left 
her was absorbed in the fatal issue of a lawsuit; upon which she resolved to 
drop the habit of her sex, and for some time served as valet to a gentleman 
in Paris. Hearing of Bougainville’s intended expedition around the world, she 
repaired to Rochefort, where, just before the ships embarked, she entered into 
the service of Mons. de Coinmercon, who had engaged to accompany Bougain¬ 
ville, with a view of increasing his botanical knowledge. She followed her 
master with extraordinary courage and resolution, through deep snows to the 
hoary tops of the mountains in the Strait of Magellan, carrying loads of herbs, 
plants, arms and provisions, with unwearied toil. While our voyagers were at 
Otaheite, the men of that island flocked around her, exclaiming: “ this is a 
woman! ” They would have treated her as such, but for the interference of an 
officer who rescued her from their hands. Bougainville observes that this is 
the first woman who ever circumnavigated the globe; and while she deserves the 
greatest honor for her courage, and for her chastity, which under all condi¬ 
tions was preserved, her name, which was Bare, continues to remain in obscurity. 

A STARVING CREW. 

Our navigators continued their voyage, meeting with a thousand obstacles 
from the treacherous channels through which they were forced to pass, and to 
their other troubles was added that of such a scarcity of provisions that they 
were at length reduced to the greatest extremity. The daily allowance of bread 
and salt meats was constantly reduced until the portions doled out were finally 
so small as to be insufficient to sustain life. There was yet on board a she- 
goat, brought from the Falkland Islands, that yielded a considerable quantity 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


419 


of milk; but Bougainville was compelled to sacrifice her to the demands of the 
crew, and the butcher, who had hitherto been her feeder, wept as he plunged 
the murderous knife into the breast of his favorite. A dog which had been 
brought from the Strait of Magellan, also fell a sacrifice to the dire demands 
of hunger. 

On the 18th of June, nine or ten more islands were discovered, which 
number was largely increased by discoveries on the 20th, when Bougainville 
found himself again in the perplexities of treacherous reefs, foul ships, damaged 
rigging, crazy masts, and tempestuous weather, which so threatened the safety 
of his ships, that at last, when he reached a harbor, he called the point of land 
which enclosed it Cape Deliverance, and the bay into which he had sailed with 
safety, Gulf of the Louisiade. Directly after casting his anchors, several boat-loads 
of natives, some carrying two to three, and others upwards of twenty men each, 
came out towards the ships. He observed that the men were black, but had a 
reddish hair, colored by some powder, while they wore white ornaments on 
their foreheads and neck, and were armed with lances and bows. They kept 
up a continual shouting, and exhibited a warlike rather than peaceful disposi¬ 
tion. These were people of the New Hebrides, who, since their discovery, have 
ever been noted for their hostile disposition. Bougainville was unable to open 
a traffic with them, and he was compelled to leave the coast without adding 
anything to his meagre store of provisions. 

ATTACKED BY CANNIBALS. 

Upon his departure, a number of Indian boats put out, which contained 
not less than 150 of the natives, all armed with shields, lances, and bows, 
and after rowing hastily towards the departing French ships, they began 
hideous outcries and an attack with bows and lances. The French were 
compelled to discharge their muskets, but the natives, covering themselves 
with their shields, continued the fight, until a second discharge terrified them 
and possibly wounded several, so that they retreated, some swimming to the 
shore. Two of the natives’ boats (composing a catamaran) were captured, on 
the stern of one of which was the figure of a man’s head with a long beard, 
the eyes being mother-of-pearl, the ears tortoise shell, and the lips painted a 
bright red. Besides weapons and utensils, there were found in their boats 
cocoa-nuts, and several fruits, and the jaw of a man, half broiled, the latter 
clearly indicating that the natives were cannibals. 

Several days later, another island was discovered and a landing was made, 
but few provisions could be obtained except such fruits as were yielded by 
cocoa-nut and cabbage-trees. Fortunately, a small number of pigeons were 
shot, the flesh of which served as a great relish for the men, not a few of 
whom were suffering from scurvy besides extreme hunger. At this place the 
ships were beached for necessary repairs, which, having been completed, de¬ 
parture was again made, and on the 2 2d, the shores of another island were 
discovered, at which a successful attempt was made to obtain some kind of 


420 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


provisions. Several turtle doves were shot, and a grove of mango apples and a 
kind of prune tree was found from which a considerable quantity of palatable fruit 
was obtained. Unfortunately,Bougainville has given to the islands which he 
thus discovered names that no longer distinguish them, and it is now impossi¬ 
ble to trace the exact route over which he sailed, or the lands which he visited. 
But it is altogether probable that the several islands which he discovered in 
the months of May and June, 1768, belong to the Solomon and New Hebrides 
groups, and New Britain, since descriptions which he gives of the natives 
accord with those made by other voyagers to those shores. But it is sur¬ 
prising how long he was compelled to put his crews upon a short allowance 



CAPTURE OR A CATAMARAN.— (From an Old Copper Print.) 

of provisions, since other voyagers who visited those islands seem to have met 
with little or no difficulty in procuring from the natives, by exchange, all the 
fruits and not a small quantity of flesh, t.hat they had need of. 

A MISUNDERSTANDING WITH THE NATIVES. 

In the beginning of August, when the ships were near the Islands of 
New Britain, several native boats, the crews of which were negroes with woolly 
heads covered with a white powder, came off to the ship, and invited the 
French to land, but they refused every inducement to come on board the 
vessels. They exhibited no fear, however, of their visitors, and after the first 
canoes had lain alongside the ships for a while, others put out from the bank, 
























UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


421 


in one of which was a person who had the appearance of authority, carrying 
a red staff, knobbed at each end. As he approached the ship he held 
his hands over his head for a considerable time, but for what purpose the 
French were unable to tell, though it is probable that it was a means of signi¬ 
fying his desire to enter into amicable relations with his white visitors. 
The French obtained from these a few yams; but upon manifesting their 
indisposition to land, the natives took offence and showed a disposition to 
attack; but they were driven off by the firing of a rocket, which frightened 
them greatly. Several days later, however, and while rounding the point of 
this same island, a number of native boats came out toward the Etoile, and 
when within a few yards, savagely attacked the vessel with a volley of stones 
and arrows, but fortunately did no damage, and they were easily repulsed by 
the firing of a volley over their heads. 

It was now decided to steer a south-westerly course in order to avoid the 
islands, which had yielded nothing to the explorers, and on the 26th of August 
Bougainville passed the meridian, and on the 31st sighted the shore of Ceram. 
As this island and those about it, such as Bonao, Kelang, and Manepo, had 
large settlements of the Dutch, Bougainville was at length able to obtain neces¬ 
sary refreshments for his crew, one-half of whom were at this time incapacitated 
from duty from insufficient food and the ravages of scurvy, which had reduced 
his men to an intolerable condition. 

SNAKES AND CROCODILES. 

-At the town of Cajeli, on Ceram, Bougainville made a considerable stay, 
and recruited his company of sick by having them put on shore and carefully 
attended by slaves, which administrations served to speedily restore them to 
health. This time of waiting was agreeably spent by Bougainville, who was 
most hospitably entertained by the Dutch, who never tired of showing him the 
kindest attentions. The vegetable productions of the island consisted of pine¬ 
apples, citrons, lemons, bitter oranges, shaddocks, bananas, and cocoa-nuts; while 
animal life was represented by a great variety of birds, many of which were 
clothed in the most exquisitely beautiful plumage, and Bougainville also men¬ 
tions “ bats, and serpents of an enormous size, the latter of which are said to have 
a swallow capacious enough for the reception of a whole sheep. There is a 
snake too, which, posting itself on the trees, darts into the eye of the passenger 
who happens to look up, and the bite of this animal is certain death. Croco¬ 
diles of an astonishing size reside on the banks of the rivers, devouring such 
beasts as fall in their way; and men are only protected from their fury by 
carrying torches in their hands. These crocodiles, which roam for prey in the 
night, have been even known to seize people in their boats.” 

From Ceram, Bougainville sailed to the Celebes, and thence to Java, stop¬ 
ping, however, at several other islands on the way, but meeting with no incident 
of special importance, and on the 27th of September, he put into the port of 
Batavia. Although all his sick had recovered during his short stay at Ceram, 


422 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


the bloody-flux broke out among his crew directly after their departure there¬ 
from, so that twenty-eight of his men were in imminent peril of their lives 
when they arrived at Batavia. These were at once carried on shore, that they 
might receive better attention, and awaiting their recovery he was thus com¬ 
pelled to remain for a considerable while at the Java capital, where, he was 
royally entertained by the Dutch of that place. At length, his crew having 
recovered, on the 16th of October, 1768, Bougainville took his departure from 
Batavia and continued on the way home. But on the 8th of November he 
arrived at the Isle of France, and finding his ship in a leaky condition, had it 
beached for overhauling and he was not able to leave that place in the Boudeuse 
until the 12th of December, at which time the Etoile had not yet completed her 
repairs, and was, therefore, left behind, so that they did not meet with her again 
until after their return to France, in March, 1769. 

BOUGAINVILLE IN THE WAR FOR AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE. 

On his return to his country Bougainville was received with great public de¬ 
monstration in honor of his successful accomplishment of a circumnavigation of 
the globe, and he was offered many positions of public trust, all of which, however, 
he refused in order to devote his time to the preparation of a history of his voyages, 
which he published in two volumes three years afterwards. After the completion 
of this history, he planned a voyage to the North Pole, and wrote a memoir on 
the subject, presenting two distinct routes, which he submitted to the Royal 
Society of London, of which he had been elected a member. But no action was 
taken, and in 1778, when the French took part in the American War of Inde¬ 
pendence, Bougainville was appointed to the command of a ship of the line, and 
distinguished himself in all the naval engagements between France and 
England. In the conflict in which de Grasse was defeated by Admiral Rodney, 
April 12th, 1782, the ship commanded by Bougainville, named The Augusta, 
suffered most severely. But through the resoluteness of her commander she 
kept her place in the line to the last extremity, and when all hope of retrieving 
the fortune of the day was abandoned, by a strategic and decisive movement, 
Bougainville succeeded in rescuing eight sail of his own immediate division, 
which he conducted in safety to St. Eustace. He did not appear again in active 
command of any vessel during the American War, but returning to France, he 
resumed his project of a voyage to the Arctic Seas. But with all his persist¬ 
ency, and several papers which he prepared and read before geographical bodies 
on the subject, he received no encouragement, and finally left the naval sendee 
in 1790. He then remained in retirement as a private citizen until 1795, when 
he was elected to the French Institute, and subsequently was made a member 
of the Board of Longitudes, and on the organization of the Senate, he was made 
a member of that body by Napoleon, who also ennobled him. He continued in 
the public service until his death, August 31st, 1811, having lived eightj^-one 
years, nine months and two days. 


CHAPTER XL. 

A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF CAPTAIN COOK. 



HE most distinguished as well as most valu¬ 
able voyages, because of the great geographi¬ 
cal information acquired, were performed by 
Captain Cook during the latter half of the 
eighteenth century, under peculiarly favor¬ 
able auspices, in that his several expeditions 
were provided with every possible advantage, 
including the best vessels then in service, while 
his assistants were selected from the most successful 
and learned navigators of that age. Add to this 
the power which England wielded as a maritime 
nation, and the liberal appropriations made for the 
fitting out of his ships, and the peerless abilities 
which Cook brought to the command, and you 
will perceive what might reasonably be expected 
from an enterprise thus favored and sent upon 
such important commission. A brief history of this greatest of navigators of 
his time may be thus supplied: 

Captain Cook, the son of a common farm laborer, was born in the village 
of Marton, Yorkshire, England, October 27th, 1728. His death occurred at the 
hands of Sandwich islanders, February 14th, 1779, as will be more particularly 
related hereafter. His father being unable to give him any opportunities in his 
youth, young Cook at the age of thirteen was apprenticed to a haberdasher in 
the little fishing town of Whitby. He had not long remained in this employ¬ 
ment before his father died, when at his earnest persuasions his master gave up 
his indentures, and young Cook engaged himself as a cabin boy in one of the 
small coasting vessels of Whitby, where he continued his service for quite a 
year before he was rewarded with promotion. But ultimately, his adaptability, 
ready resource and natural abilities came to be recognized, and before he was 
twenty-five he had risen to the position of master of a vessel, and in 1755 he 
shipped in the royal navy, and was directly aftenvards promoted to the quarter 
deck for his efficiency. He served successively as master of the Grampus and 
the Garland, and in 1759 his master’s rank was confirmed by the admiralty, 
and he was appointed to the command of the frigate Mercury, and attached to 
the squadron sent out to co-operate with Gen. Wolfe at Quebec. He led the 
attack at Montmorency, and conducted the disembarkment of the troops for the 
assault on the heights of Abraham. 

( 423 ) 









424 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 



COOK’S ACCOUNT OF AN ECLIPSE OF THE SUN. 

This really brilliant service brought him great reputation at home, which 
was largely increased by the publication of one of his charts which he had 
prepared of the channel of the St. Lawrence from Quebec to the sea. His 
reputation so increased that he was soon afterwards promoted to the flag-ship 
Northumberland, where, not being in active service, he had the leisure to prose¬ 
cute with great diligence the study of mathematics and astronomy, in which he 
* was to soon after win great renown. He was present at the re-capture of New¬ 
foundland in 1762, and returning from there to England he married, and the 
year following was sent out to survey the coast of Newfoundland, during which 
service he was so fortunate as to 
observe an eclipse of the sun, upon 
which he prepared a paper of such 
great accuracy and value that he re¬ 
ceived from the “ Philosphical Trans¬ 
actions ” a most fulsome commenda¬ 
tion, and his reputation as an as¬ 
tronomer was thereby established. 

A few years afterwards, when 
the royal society obtained the con¬ 
sent of King George to fit out an 
expedition for the purpose of observ¬ 
ing the transit of Vet us, which was 
visible only in the Pacific Ocean, he 
was chosen to command the vessel, 
receiving a commission as lieutenant. 

The Endeavor, a ship of 370 tons, 
was supplied, and the expedition set 
sail August 23d, 1768, from Ply¬ 
mouth, accompanied by Mr. Green as 
astronomer, and Sir Joseph Banks 
as naturalist of the expedition. On 

April 13th, 1769, the Endeavor captain james cook. 

reached Tahiti (Otaheite), where the astronomical observations were successfully 
made (June 3d), after which he set sail in search of an Antarctic continent, a 
belief in the existence of which was at that time agitating many bold navigators. 
After sailing to 6o° degrees south, and discovering no land, he turned eastward, 
re-discovering New Zealand, and was the first to observe the narrow strait which 
divides the island into two parts. 

Thence proceeding eastward Cook came upon the coast of Australia at 
Botany Bay, which he took possession of in the name of the King of Great 
Britain, and thereupon surveyed the coast for a distance of 1,300 miles, by 
which he proved by actual investigation the separation, of Australia from Papua, 





UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


425 


which were formerly believed to be one island. His voyage thus far had not 
been entirely without accident, though he had the good fortune to escape from 
shipwreck and from native hostility which threatened him at many places, after 
which he put into Batavia to refit his vessel, and while lying there thirty of 
his men died of a sickness peculiar to the coast of Java. He finally reached 
England June nth, 1771, having in less than three years completely circum¬ 
navigated the globe and successfully accomplished the object of the expedition. 

IN SEARCH OF AN ANTARTIC CONTINENT. 

Upon his return to England Captain Cook prepared a report supplemental 
to that of Mr. Banks, in which he gave a very valuable account of the voyage, 
and having demonstrated that Australia was an island, his paper was the more 
keenly debated and a belief in the existence of a continent south of that island 
became more fixed in the public mind than ever. To settle this point, in which 
Captain Cook was also himself a firm believer, it was determined to send out 
another expedition. Accordingly the Resolution, of 462 tons, and manned by 
112 seamen, commanded by Captain Cook, and the Adventure, of 336 tons and 
81 men, commanded by Tobias Furneaux, set sail from Plymouth, July 13,-1772, 
with instructions “ to circumnavigate the whole globe in high southern lati¬ 
tudes, making traverses from time to time into ever)’’ part of the Pacific Ocean 
which had not undergone previous investigation, and to use his best endeavors 
to solve the much agitated question of a southern continent.” 

On this voyage the two vessels sailed a distance of more than ten thousand 
miles, reaching latitude 71 0 io' south, and longitude 106° 54' west. The ships were 
for a time separated, but after being out of sight of land for 117 days, the Reso¬ 
lution rejoined the Adventure at New Zealand. Both commanders had thus 
conducted an independent search for the supposed continent, but each being 
alike disappointed, the vessels sailed for the Society Islands where they spent 
the winter, after which they made cruises between Easter Island and the New 
Hebrides, during which the}' discovered and named the island of New Caledonia. 
They finally turned eastward towards Cape Horn, and reached England by way 
of the Cape of Good Hope, on July 30, 1775, after an absence of three years 
and sixteen days, in which time the vessels had sailed over a distance of sixty 
thousand miles. 

Though this second expedition had resulted without material benefits, the 
reputation of Captain Cook as a successful navigator was nevertheless consider¬ 
ably increased, and immediately upon his return, among other flattering honors 
bestowed upon him, he was made post-captain, and appointed to the command 
of the Greenwich hospital. Six months afterwards he was chosen a member of 
the Royal Society, and the Copley gold medal was bestowed upon him for a 
paper which he had prepared and read before that body, describing his methods 
of preserving the health of his men on long voyages. But though Cook had 
settled down to what for a time appeared permanent employment on land, which 
gave opportunities to pursue his studies, or until his country had occasion for 
his services, he was not permitted to long enjoy the quiet of his position. 


426 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 



A SEARCH FOR THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. 

Though many expeditions had been sent out in search of a north-west 
passage to Asia, and all alike had returned with no other results of their 
enterprise than stories of shipwreck, disaster, and suffering, the belief in the 
existence of such a passage had in nowise abated, but continued to be a ques¬ 
tion of earnest debate not only among navigators of the time, but nations as 
well that were anxious to extend their commerce with the east by such a route. 
In the opinions entertained of its existence Cook eagerly shared, and at the 
suggestion of many wealthy gen¬ 
tlemen interested in such an enter¬ 
prise, Cook accepted the command 
of an expedition which was organ¬ 
ized to ascertain if it were pos¬ 
sible to make a passage around 
North America by way of Behring 
Strait. Under this commission, 
he sailed for a third time from 
Plymouth, July 12th, 1776, with 
two ships, the Resolution and 
Discovery, the latter vessel being 
placed under the command of an 
almost equally experienced navi¬ 
gator, named Charles Clerke. 

The expedition set sail direct for 
the South Pacific, among the 
islands of which it spent a con¬ 
siderable time, as will be here¬ 
after related, after which Cook 
directed his course northward, and 
on his way towards Behring Sea 
he discovered, in January, 1778, 
a group to which he gave the 
name of Sandwich Islands. These 
he circumnavigated, and then pro¬ 
ceeded eastward to the American 
coast, along which he sailed, 
unable to find any passage sandwich islanders supplying cook with provisions. 

until he reached Behring Strait. The season was now so far advanced 
that further progress was impossible, by reason of a great barrier of ice which 
confronted him. But while lying before the icy wall which forbade him pro¬ 
ceeding further northward, he untilized his time by making charts and loca¬ 
tions of the islands which he had discovered, and of the American coast, and 
determining its distance from Asia. 
















UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


427 


KILLING OF COOK BY SANDWICH ISLANDERS. 

In the latter part of August, 1778, finding his efforts futile to pass around 
North America, he returned to the Sandwich islands with the intention of waiting 
a more favorable season, hoping that he would be able to make the passage in 
the following year. He cruised about Hawaii, which he calls Owyhee, and Maui, 
for several weeks, finding the natives generally peaceably disposed, but such con- 
summate thieves that on February 13th 1779, he determined to seize the person 
of the King and hold him a prisoner until one of his boats, which the natives 
had stolen, was returned. To accomplish this purpose he went on shore on the 
14th, accompanied by a lieutenant and nine men. But scarcely had he landed 
when the suspicions of the islanders were aroused, most probably by the arms 
which the white men carried, and a fight ensued, in which the gallant captain 
and several of his marines lost their lives. Their bodies did not escape muti¬ 
lation, for when those who had escaped injury in the attack jumped hastily into 
their boat and put back to the ship, the natives seized the bodies of the slain, 
and after cutting them up devoured them, which was the invariable custom of 
the Sandwich islanders until the influence of the whites became dominant fifty 
years later. The bare bones of the great navigator were recovered seven days 
after the fatal attack and were deposited in a coffin and reverently buried in 
the sea. 

The expedition, though deprived of its commander, had no idea as yet of 
abandoning the purpose for which it had sailed, but in the following year made 
another effort to accomplish the north-west passage; but meeting with the same 
obstacles as before, departed for the coast of China down which it passed and 
returned home by the same route as that over which the second expedition had 
sailed. As a recognition of his distinguished services to the nation, the English 
government bestowed a pension of a thousand dollars per annum upon Cook’s 
widow, and a hundred dollars to each of his children, a gratuity which has been 
continued to his descendants ever since. 



CHAPTER XLI. 


THE START FOR THE SOUTH SEA. 



REPARATIONS for the vo} T age to Otaheite, to 
observe the transit of Venus, were made on an 
elaborate .scale, and Captain Cook wanted for 
nothing to make the object of his visit to the 
island a success, or the accomplishment of a 
circumnavigation of the globe, which was one of 
his ambitions. Just before sailing, and while lying 
in Plymouth Sound waiting for a favorable wind, 
the ship’s company was paid two months' wages 
in advance and were told to expect no additional 
pay for their services on the voyage. On Friday, 
August 26th, 1768, the wind becoming fair, Cook’s 
ship set her sails and did not throw her anchor 
until she came into the roads at Funchal, capital 
of Madeira Island, where the first accident happened 
in the drowning of Mr. Wier, the master’s mate. Here the scientists of the 
expedition, Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander, spent several days familiarizing them¬ 
selves with the geology of the island. 

With a fresh supply of provisions Cook departed from Madeira September 
19th, and without adventure reached Rio de Janeiro on the 14th of October. At 
the time of Cook’s visit to the chief city of Brazil, Portuguese occupation and 
government had served to civilize the country, so that the customs of the 
people there are not described by the great navigator, nor would such report be 
particularly interesting if he. had; but he took occasion to make some pointed 
observations on the Brazilian women, whose favors were gladly granted for no 
other reward than the asking. 

Having been detained by the freakishness and suspicion of the Viceroy, 
Cook did not leave Rio de Janeiro until early in December, when he. set his 
course southward to make a passage round Cape Horn. On the nth a large 
shark was hooked which was brought on board with much difficulty and from 
which six young sharks were taken that swam swiftly about when placed in a 
tub of water. 

LOST IN THE MOUNTAINS OF TERRE DEL FUEGO. 

On the nth of January, 1769, the coast of Terre del Fuego was sighted. 
Five days later the ship came to anchor in Magellan Strait where Cook was 
directly after visited by a large number of natives, among whom was a chief, 

(428) 










UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


429 



or exorcist, who went about the ship and at every surprising thing he saw he 
would shout with all his might; the object of this singular manifestatiou Cook 
was unable to understand, but that it was connected with some superstitious 
belief he had no reason to doubt. After examining the ship the several visitors re¬ 
turned on shore and did not come back again. While lying here the two 
scientists, Banks and Solander, with ten seamen went on shore to make in¬ 
vestigations, but wandering up into the mountains they were overtaken by a 

snow storm and such severe cold 
that though this was summer 
time in that region, two of the 
number perished before they 
could find their way back to 
the ship. 

After recovering from the 
effects of their exposure,' the 
two scientists visited a village 
of some fourteen huts occupied 
by some fifty persons. The 
cold continued very severe, but 
the natives appeared to be com¬ 
fortable though they wore no 
clothing save a guanaco or seal 
skin thrown over the shoulders 
and a small flap in place of 
the traditional fig leaf; thus a 
greater part of their bodies was 
nude, though decorated with 
much paint. Their huts were 
made of poles and grass, con¬ 
structed in the crudest manner 
and set in circular shape with 
about one-eighth of the circle 
left open, thus exposing the 
occupants to chilly blasts which 
might freely enter. These Terre 
cook’s visit TO THE terre dei. fuegans. del Fuegans, as many other 

travellers have verified, are the real pigmies of the human race, the men rarely 
exceeding five and one-half feet in height, while the women average less than 
five feet. 


AN EXTRAORDINARY CUTTLE-FISH. 

On the 22d of January Cook weighed anchor and continued his voyage, 
proceeding around Cape Horn, which he doubled in thirty-six days. After leav¬ 
ing sight of land the ship was surrounded by birds, of which Mr. Banks killed 





















430 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 



sixty-two in one day, and he also discovered floating on the water a cuttle-fish 
of extraordinary size, believed to have been killed a short time before by the 
savage attacks of gulls and albatrosses. In describing this wonderful animal 
Mr. Banks says: “ It is very different from the cuttle-fish that are found in 

the European seas; for its arms, instead of suckers, were furnished with a double 
row of very sharp talons, which resembled those of a cat and, like them, were 
retractible into a sheath of skin from which they might be thrust with pleasure. 
Of this cuttle-fish we made one of the best soups we had ever tasted.” We may 
observe that this description in nowise accords with that given by other scien¬ 
tists of cuttle-fishes found in any part of the world’s waters. In this instance, 


AN OCTOPUS ATTACKED BY SEA-CUBES. 

therefore, Drs. Banxs and Solander may be credited with a discovery which 
has never since been, nor is likely to be verified. 

On the 4th of April, the first land was discovered after leaving Terre del 
Fuego, which proved to be a coral island, lagoon shaped, and one of the numer¬ 
ous Polynesian group. No landing was made and thereafter several islands 
were passed from day to day, all of which were inhabited by naked people who 
were armed with bows and spears, some of the latter being as much as fourteen 
feet in length. 

RECEPTION AT OTAHEITE. 

Ten days later the Endeavor reached her destination and came to anchor in 
Port Royal Bay at Otaheite, or Tahiti, first called King George the Third Island. 
















UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


431 



Here Cook was immediately visited by many of the islanders, who brought 
young plantains and branches of the tree as tokens of peace and amity. As 
the stay here was to be for a considerable time, Capt. Cook drew up a code and 
set of rules to govern those connected with the expedition in their intercourse 
with the natives. The commander and the two scientists, Banks and Solander, 
accompanied by a party of armed men then went on shore, where they were hos¬ 
pitably received by some hundred of the inhabitants, who signified their welcome 

of the white men by crouching 
so low as to appear to approach 
on their hands and knees. “ It 
is remarkable” says Capt. Cook, 
“ that the people in the canoes 
presented to us the same symbol 
of peace that is known to have 
been in use among the ancients 
and mighty nations of the north¬ 
ern hemisphere, the green 
branches of a tree. We took it 
with looks and gestures of kind¬ 
ness and satisfaction. On ob¬ 
serving that each of them held 
one in his hand, we' immediately 
gathered every one a branch arid 
carried it in our hands in the 
same manner.” 

KILLING OF A NATIVE. 

On April 15th a suitable 
location was found for the build¬ 
ing of a fort in which six swivel 
guns were mounted. The work 
of erecting an observatory was 
next begun, when the natives 
perceiving how they might make 
their services valuable, lent a 
hearty, voluntary assistance, in 

RECEPTION OE COOK BY THE OTAHEITANS , . i ■, ' , 

which work they were encour¬ 
aged by their Chiefs, Tubourae Tamaide, and Tootahah; but just before begin¬ 
ning the erection of the observatory and defence, and in the temporary absence of 
Cook and the two scientists, a difficulty occurred over the theft of a musket by 
one of the natives, who was pursued and shot to death by the sentry. This 
tragic incident did not, however, incite any hostility on the part of the islanders, 
and three days afterwards Captain Cook, Banks and Solander discovered what 
disposition had been made of the body of the murdered man and, incidentally, 








432 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


the customs of the natives. Concerning these funeral customs, Cook says: “I 
found the shed under which his body lay, close by the house in which he resided 
when he was alive, some others being not more than ten yards distant. It was 
about fifteen feet long and eleven broad, and of a proportional height. One end 
was wholly open, and the other end and the two sides were partly enclosed with a 
kind of wicker-work. 

“ The bier on which the corpse was deposited was a frame like that in which 
the sea-beds, called cots, are placed, with a matted bottom and supported by four 
posts at the height of about five feet from the ground. The body was covered 
first with a mat and then with white cloth. By the side of it lay a wooden 
mace, one of their weapons of war, and near the head of it, which lay next to the 
closed end of the shed, lay two cocoa-nut shells such as are sometimes used to 
carry water in. At the other end a bunch of green leaves with some dried twigs 
all tied together, was stuck in the ground, by which lay a stone about as big 
as a cocoa-nut. Near these , lay one of the young plantain trees, which are used 
as emblems of peace, and close by it a stone axe. At the other end of the shed 
also hung in several strings a great number of palm nuts, and without the shed was 
stuck upright in the ground a stem of the plantain tree about five feet high, upon 
the top of which was placed a cocoa-nut shell full of fresh water. Against the 
side of one of the posts hung a small bag containing a few pieces of bread-fruit 
ready roasted, which were not all put in at the same time, for some of them were 
fresh and others stale. We supposed the food was placed there for the spirit of 
the deceased, and consequently that these Indians had some confused notion of a 
separate state; but upon our applying for further information to Tubourae 
Tamaide, he told us the food was placed there as an offering to the gods. They do 
not, however, suppose that the gods eat, any more than the Jews suppose Jehovah 
could dwell in a house. The offering is made here upon the same principle as 
the temple was built at Jerusalem, as an expression of reverence and gratitude, 
and a solicitation of the more immediate presence of the Deity. In the front 
of the area was a kind of style, where the relations of the deceased stood, to pay 
the tribute of their sorrow, and under the awning were innumerable small pieces 
of cloth, on which the tears and blood of the mourners had been shed; for in 
their paroxsym of grief it is a universal custom to wound themselves with 
shark’s teeth.” 

On May 2d, the observatory having been completed, Mr. Solander pre¬ 
pared to fix the astronomical quadrant in position when to his amazement he 
found it was missing. Without this instrument the chief object of the expe¬ 
dition could not be accomplished, so learning through chief Tamaide that the 
quadrant had been stolen by a native, Mr. Banks and Green set out to re¬ 
cover it; but this was by no means an easy matter for they had to pursue the 
thief for a distance of seven miles into the interior before they came up with 
him, and then were able to secure the instrument only by a threatening show 
of their pistols. 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


433 



AN ENTERTAINMENT PROVIDED BY THE NATIVES. 

While the two went in pursuit of the thief, there was much restlessness 
exhibited by the Islanders about the fort, which seemed to indicate hostility, 
to prevent which, Tootahah was held as a hostage until the return 
of the instrument, when he was immediately released. Thinking it was 
the intention of his captors to execute him, when Tootahah was set free his 
gratitude was so great that he provided a novel entertainment for the whites, 
which was attended not only by Cook and his men, but also by the Island 
Queen, and five hundred of her subjects. The amusement thus provided con¬ 
sisted of boxing, fencing and wrestling matches between the best athletes of 
the district, and of singular dances which were performed by the men alone. 


BOXING AND FENCING MATCHES BETWEEN OTAHEITAN ATHLETES. 

After these were concluded a generous repast was served of pork, bread-fruit, 
cocoa-nut and other provisions. 

The observation of the transit of Venus was successfully made from two 
points, on separate islands, but while the astronomers were making their 
calculations one of the ship’s store rooms was broken into by some of the 
crew and a hundred pounds of nails, which constituted the prime article of 
exchange with the natives, was stolen. Only one of the culprits was after¬ 
wards discovered ; for two dozen lashes failed to extort from him the names of 
his accomplices.. 

Though the published object of the voyage was accomplished, Cook and 
his companions w’ere in no haste to leave a spot so arcadian and they con- 
28 




























434 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


tinued on the island a considerable while to familiarize themselves with the 
customs of the natives, who though practiced and irrepressible thieves, were 
always good natured and generous. 

On the 12th of June, Tamaide, the Chief, brought his bow to exhibit his 
dexterity in its use. Singular enough, he made no claim to skill as a marks¬ 
man, but prided himself on the extraordinary flight of his arrows, which, 
though unfeathered, he discharged a distance of 274 yards, or nearly one-sixth 
of a mile. When shooting, the natives invariably knelt down and dropped the 
bow immediately it was discharged. 

A BAND OF NATIVE MINSTRELS. 

On the same day near the spot where the bow practice had been given 
Mr. Banks met a small strolling band of musicians whose instruments consisted 
of two flutes and three drums, the latter made of a hollow cylindrical block 
closed at one end and the other covered with shark’s skin. Their appearance 
was the signal for the collection of a crowd, and when a circle of auditors 
was formed the players began, their selections consisting of improvised songs 
with occasional taps on their instruments by the drummers, accompanied by 
the flutists, who instead of using the mouth employed their nostrils. In this 
connection I may add that I myself once saw a minstrel adjust two flutes to 
his nostrils and play them both at one time with great skill while he smoked 
a cigar. On nearly all the islands of the Pacific the flute and fife players use 
their nostrils instead of their mouths which appear to be equally well adapted 
for the purpose. 

There are several islands in the Society Group, of which Otaheite is the 
.largest, and Cook improved the opportunity to visit nearly all of them. He 
found them generally under distinct governments, each having its own king, 
though nearly all acknowledged more or less authority to Oberea, who was 
queen of Otaheite at the time of Cook’s visit. 

At one of the islands thus visited Cook and his companions discovered in 
a long house a semi-circular board to which,was hung fifteen human jaw-bones, 
so fresh in appearance that he was convinced that they were from victims 
killed not very long before, but his curiosity to know the evidently cruel cir¬ 
cumstances of which the jaw-bones were a memorial the natives could not or 
would not satisfy. On the following day however he learned that three or 
four weeks before his arrival on the island a descent had been made on the 
people of that place by the natives of the south-east peninsula of Otaheite, 
who had massacred a number of the surprised inhabitants, burned their houses 
and carried away their hogs, fowls and provisions. The jaw-bones found in the 
long house had been taken from some of these victims, the custom of the 
islanders being to preserve such relics as trophies of their prowess. 

SAILORS FALL IN LOVE WITH THE GIRLS. 

On July 13th, after a delightful stay of three months, Cook ordered the 
anchors of the Endeavor weighed and under a favorable breeze he departed 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


435 


from Otaheite, taking with him a chief named Tupia, who urged his desire to 
accompany the expedition to at least some of the other islands in the Pacific. 
The parting which followed was on both sides a sad and affecting one. Some 
of the sailors had fallen in love with the pretty native girls, and two deserted 
and fled into the mountains determined never to leave the island, having as they 
declared taken wives from among the fairest of the Otaheitans; but after a 
search of three days they were arrested and brought back on board. Queen 
Oberea, whose favors had been secured by the present of a doll, joined with her 
people in earnest lamentations for the departure of their visitors, and several of 
the women manifested their sorrow by mutilating their scalps with sharks’ 
teeth, which was a common means employed by the natives to exhibit their 
grief and was occasionally employed to show a common sorrow. 

Captain Cook furnishes the following description of the islanders of Otaheite : 
“ As to the people, they are of the largest size of Europeans. The men are 
tall, strong, well limbed and finely shaped. The tallest we saw was a man on 
a neighboring island called Huahene, who measured six feet three inches and 
a half. The women of the superior rank are in general about our middle 
stature, but those of the inferior class are rather below it and some of them are 
very small. This defect in size probably proceeds from their early commerce 
Avith men, the only thing in which they differ from their superiors that could 
possibly affect their growth. Their complexion is that kind of clear olive, or 
brunette, which many people in Europe prefer to the finest white and red. In 
those that are exposed to the wind and sun it is considerably weakened, but in 
others that live under shelter, especially the superior class of women, it con¬ 
tinues of its native hue and the skin is most delicately smooth and soft. They 
have no tint in their cheeks which we distinguish by the name of color. The 
shape of the face is comely; the cheek bones are not high, neither are the eyes 
hollow nor the brow prominent, and their breath is without taint.” 

Of their domestic customs and morals Cook gives us this surprising picture : 

“ In other countries, the girls and unmarried women are supposed to be 
wholly ignorant of what others upon some occasions may appear to know; and 
their conversation and conduct are consequently more restrained within narrow 
bounds, and kept at a more remote distance from whatever relates to a connec¬ 
tion with the other sex, but there it is just the contrary. Among other diversions, 
there is a dance called timorodee , which is performed by young girls whenever 
eight or ten of them can be collected together, consisting of motions and gestures 
beyond imagination wanton, in which they have been brought up from their 
earliest childhood, accompanied by words which, if it were possible, would more 
explicitly convey the same ideas. In these dances they keep time with an exact¬ 
ness which is scarcely excelled by the best performers upon the stage of Europe; 
but the practice which is allowed to the virgin is prohibited to the woman from 
the moment that she has put the hopeful lessons in practice, and realized the 
symbols of the dance.” 


CHAPTER XLII. 

THE FEMALE DANCERS OF EOLABOLA. 



who refused to receive gratuities 
tainment the Commander says: 


EAVING Otaheite after a delightful visit, the voy¬ 
age continued pleasant and after a few 
days’ sail another island was discovered, fol¬ 
lowed during the next week by the finding 
of several others, at a few of which land¬ 
ings were made and intercourse with the 
natives established; but the customs and gen¬ 
eral appearance of the islanders were not 
materially different from those found at Ota¬ 
heite. At one island, named Bolabola, “ which 
is one of a group of six contiguous islands 
belonging to the Societies,” Cook was agree¬ 
ably entertained by a company of natives 
consisting of two women dancers and six 
men, three of the latter being drummers , 
and all of them belonging to the better class, 
for their performances. Describing the enter- 
“The women had upon their heads a consid¬ 


erable quantity of tamou , or plaited hair, which was brought several times 
around the head and adorned in many parts with the flowers of the cape 
jessamine, which were stuck in with much taste and made a head-dress truly 
elegant. Their necks, shoulders and arms were naked, so were the breasts 
also as low as the parting of the arm; below that they were covered with a 
black cloth which set close to the body. At the side of each breast, next to 
the arm was placed a small plume of black feathers, much in the same man¬ 
ner as our ladies now wear their nosegays or bouquets. Upon their hips rested 
a quantity of cloth plaited very full which reached up to the breast and fell 
down behind into long petticoats, which quite concealed their feet and which 
'they managed with as much dexterity as our opera dancers could have done. 
The plaits above the waist were brown and white alternately; the petticoats 
below were all white. In this dress they advanced sideways in a measured 
step, keeping excellent time to the drums which beat briskly and loud. Soon 
after they began to shake their hips, giving the folds of cloth that lay upon 
them a very quick motion, which was in some degree continued through the 
whole dance, though the body was thrown into various positions, sometimes 
standing, sometimes sitting and sometimes resting on their knees and elbows, 
the fingers also being moved at the same time with a quickness scarcely to 

(436) 




















UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


437 


be imagined. Much of tlie dexterity of the dancers, however, and the enter¬ 
tainment of the spectators, consisted in the wantonness of their attitudes and 
gestures which were, indeed, such as exceed all description.” 

FIRST CONFLICT WITH NEW ZEALANDERS. 

From Bolabola the Endeavor sailed south-westwardly until October 7th 
the shore of New Zealand was sighted, when on the following day anchor 
was cast in Poverty Bay, or Turunga, and Cook despatched a small boat to 
the shore at a point where a river empties into the sea. A landing was made 
without opposition from the natives who had watched with amazement the ap¬ 
proach of the ship and the launching of the pinnace; but, when leaving the 
small boat the crew advanced a few hundred yards toward the interior, they 

were suddenly confronted by four 
warriors armed with long lances 
who were resolved on attacking their 
white visitors; the latter, however, 
being apprised of the intentions of 
the hostile islanders, beat a hasty 
retreat to their boat and pushing 
off hastened down the stream to 
seek a place of security; but the 
natives jumped into one of their 
canoes and set out in pursuit, nor 
did two shots fired over their heads 
cause them to pause more than a 
few moments. The pursuit now 
growing dangerous one of the boat’s 
crew shot the leader of the hostile 
party dead, at which the others beat 
a quick retreat, for a while trying 
to drag the body away with them. 
The man who was thus killed proved 
to be a distinguished chief named 
of warriors had only a short while 
before come over from a neighboring island and waged successful war on the 
native New Zealanders, whom they had dispossessed of a considerable district. 

From the people with whom Cook afterwards conversed it was learned 
that they at first believed his ship a monstrous bird, the wings of which had 
struck them with greater amazement than its size; but on seeing a smaller 
bird (the ship’s pinnace) without sails descending into the water and a num¬ 
ber of parti-colored beings, but apparently of human shape, also descending, 
the bird was regarded as a house full of divinities. When their leader was 
killed, “ the manner of his unseen death was ascribed to a thunder bolt from 
these new gods, and the noise made by the discharge of the muskets was rep- 



A FEMALE DANCER OE BOLABOBA. 

Ta-Ratu, who at the head of a large party 

















435 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS 


resented as the watitiri , or thunder, which accompanies that sublime phenom¬ 
enon. To revenge themselves was the dearest wish of the tribe, but how to accom¬ 
plish it with divinities who could kill them at a distance without even approach¬ 
ing to them, was difficult to determine. Many of these natives observed that 
they felt themselves taken ill by only being particularly looked at by these 
Atuas. It was therefore agreed that as these new-comers could bewitch with a 
single look, the sooner their society was dispensed with the better for the 
general welfare.” 

ANOTHER TRAGIC INCIDENT. 

After the first tragic incident connected with the landing of Cook’s men 
on New Zealand, it was only after many signs of amity and persistent induce¬ 
ment that any of the natives could be persuaded to visit the ship; but at 
length a canoe laden with twenty islanders ventured to visit the vessel, and, 
meeting with no disasters, others were emboldened and soon the ship was 
overrun by hundreds who, unwilling to barter with the crew, began to indis¬ 
criminately seize every portable thing. Protests being of no avail, it became 
necessary to resort to harsher means, and Cook reluctantly ordered his men to 
fire on the impudent thieves, one of whom was killed and a number wounded. 
The others became so frightened that they jumped into the sea and swam 
to shore, nor did Cook give them an opportunity to renew their molestations, 
for he sailed away at once. 

Cook coasted New Zealand, stopping from time to time and using every 
means to establish friendly intercourse with the natives, but though he induced 
several to visit his ship, yet with all the gifts he bestowed upon them and kind¬ 
nesses exhibited they did not abate their savagery. On one occasion while 
several of the New Zealanders were on board begging for everything they saw, 
a party of them seized the ten-year-old son of Tupia, and before they could be 
arrested had escaped to their boat with the boy, intending to eat him when 
they got to the shore. Threats failing to make the natives return, a volley was 
discharged directly at the kidnappers, three of whom were killed. The boy 
being released in the excitement which followed he jumped overboard and swam 
back to the ship in safety. 

A BLOODY SPECTACLE. 

Some days afterwards, on another part of the coast, the natives appeared so 
friendly that Cook and several of his party were induced to go on shore, where 
they were hospitably received and a considerable trade, in the way of exchang¬ 
ing cloths, beads, nails, etc., for such provisions as fish, yams, torros, celery and 
for native arms, was carried on with mutual satisfaction. The day was thus 
profitably and agreeably spent, at the close of which the white visitors accepted 
an invitation to enter one of the largest huts, and wffiat was there observed 
Cook thus describes: “A little before sunset the Indians retired to eat their 
supper and we went with them to be spectators. It consisted of fish of differ¬ 
ent kinds, among which were lobsters, and birds of a species unknown to us; 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


439 


these were either roasted or baked. To roast them they fastened them upon a 
small stick which was stuck up in the ground inclining towards their fire, and 
to bake them they put them into a hole in the ground in the same manner as 
the people of Otaheite. Among the natives that were assembled upon this occa¬ 
sion, we saw a woman who after their manner was mourning for the death of 
her relation. She sat upon the ground near the rest who, one only excepted, 
seemed not at all to regard her; the tears constantly trickled down her cheeks 
and she repeated, in' a low, but very mournful voice, words which even Tupia 
did not understand. At the end of every sentence she cut her arms, her face 
or her breast with a shell that she held in her hands, so that she was almost 



AN ATTACK BY THE NATIVES. 


covered with blood, and was indeed one of the most affecting spectacles that can 
be conceived. The' cuts, however, did not appear to be as deep as they are 
sometimes made upon similar occasions, if we may judge by the scars upon the 
arms, thighs, breasts, and cheeks of many which we were told were the re¬ 
mains of wounds which they had inflicted upon themselves as testimonials of 
their affection and sorrow.” 

A subsequent visit on shore did not prove so safe or pleasant, for while 
Cook, Banks and Solander, with a well-armed body-guard, were making some 
investigations on the banks of a little cove at which was moored their yawl, the 
party found themselves suddenly beset by fully three hundred islanders, who 
brandished their lances and clubs in a most threatening manner. Their num- 





















440 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


bers were presently augmented by a hundred more, and now being emboldened 
to make an attack they advanced, though cautiously, all the while singing their 
war songs. When the army of savages had passed a line which Cook had 
made to indicate the proximity he would allow, the body-guard was com¬ 
manded to fire their guns, which were only loaded with small shot, at the 
hostile natives and a few were rather severely, though not seriously wounded; 
at this they drew back, but seeing that no great harm had been done, the 
islanders quickly rallied under the encouragement of their chief, and came 
charging back with savage demonstrations until one of the seamen discharged 
his gun at him with such' effect that the warrior ran off howling desperately, 
followed fast by his panic-stricken army, who had no disposition now to renew 
the attack. 

CANNIBALISM. 

At another landing where Cook, Banks, Solander, and Tupia the interpre¬ 
ter, went on shore, they found a family making preparations for a feast. Some 
coals of fire were noticed in a hole in the ground on which the dressed body 
of a dog was roasting and almost ready for eating; but what was more curious 
(for, indeed, dog flesh is commonly eaten by all the Pacific islanders), was the 
sight of two baskets, made of rushes, in which were discovered human bones that 
had been freshly picked. Inquiry being made, the islanders freely admitted the 
practice of eating all the bodies of their enemies killed in war. They also 
explained that in a conflict which had occurred near the place of their present 
feasting seven of their enemies had been killed, who had since been eaten, and 
of which the bones now before them were a part of the remains. The follow¬ 
ing day four heads of the seven thus slain were presented to Mr. Banks by 
the natives, and afterwards many human bones were brought out to the ship 
and offered in exchange by the islanders for such articles as delighted their 
fancy. 

Having completed the coasting of a large part of New Zealand, and explored 
the strait which separates the two islands, and to which he gave his own name, 
on March 31st, Cook took his departure and continued his voyage westwardly. 
New Zealand was first discovered by Tasman, in December, 1642, but it had 
not been visited by any other white person to the time of Cook’s coming, as 
just described. Tasman, too, went little on shore, though he coasted the island 
on the east for a distance of five hundred and fifty miles and entered the strait; 
but he obtained so little knowledge of the country that he believed it a great 
southern continent. 

Proceeding over the same course pursued by Tasman, more than one hun¬ 
dred years before, Cook sighted the Australian banks on April the 19th, but 
instead of landing at once coasted the shore for a distance of one hundred miles 
and at length, finding a suitable harbor, put into Botany Bay, where the great 
commercial port of Sydney is now situated. The ship came to anchor before 
a small village and a yawl was launched in which Cook, Banks and Solander 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


441 



started for the shore; several natives were observed on the beach, but they 
quickly vanished, save two, who savagely opposed any landing being made 
at the village, nor did offerings of nails, beads, or ribbons serve to placate their 
hostility. Upon a closer approach to the shore the two threw spears at Cook’s 
party, but happily without effect, but at length necessity required that* they be 
put to rout by a discharge of small shot. Tupia, who had held easy intercourse 
with the New Zealanders, the similarity of their languages being surprisingly 


AUSTRALIAN BOOMERANG DANCERS. 

great, was unable to understand a word uttered by the Australians, hence 
communication could be only made by signs. 

AUSTRALIAN BOOMERANG THROWERS. 

A few days after landing many natives were seen, but they could not be 
induced to approach near enough for Cook to give them assurance of his peace¬ 
ful intentions. He observed, however, that they were armed with formidable 
lances some ten feet in length and cruelly barbed with fish bones. Besides 
these weapons, they carried a much more dangerous one known as a boomerang , 
which' the natives used chiefly in hunting, but it was equally effective when 
turned against their enemies. This weapon is a short covered piece of heavy 







442 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


wood, and, singular to relate, is thrown in the opposite direction from the object 
aimed at. It does not descend at once to the ground, but after proceeding a 
short distance forward it rises in rapid whirls and then darts backwards over 
the head of the thrower, and strikes at great distances behind him; but so 
remarkable is the Australian’s skill that the weapon goes as surely to the mark as 
does the bullet of an expert rifleman. But while better armed, the Australians 
had boats very inferior to those used by the New Zealanders, which proved 
them to be less aquatic in their habits; indeed, the New Zealanders were 
as essentially fishermen as the Australians were hunters. 

Unable to come in contact with the natives, on account of their distrust 
and shyness, Cook did not remain long in Botany Bay, but weighing anchor 
he set to coasting the country on the east side. At several inviting harbors he 
put in, however, and was able to obtain the greatest abundance of provisions 
by the exertions of his company. At one place they found quail in extra¬ 
ordinary numbers, and so tame that it was easy to kill them with stones. Fish 
also abounded in great numbers, so that a single haul of the net would fre¬ 
quently result in the catch of three hundred pounds’ weight. Bustards, a species 
of gallinaceous birds about the size of a turkey, and peculiar to Australia, were 
shot, and afforded members of the expedition the most palatable food that they 
had eaten since leaving England. In all the shallows, and especially the inlets, 
oysters and crabs were extremely plentiful, many of the former being pearl 
bearing, and at one landing the crew found great numbers of sting rays, some 
of which they killed that weighed above four hundred pounds. 

AN ACCIDENT TO THE SHIP. 

On the 14th of June, while standing off shore a distance of twenty-five 
miles, the Endeavor suddenly struck a rock with such great force that she was 
carried over and left resting in a basin between the rock which she had cleared 
and another that, lifting its head higher, held her fast. Examination revealed the 
alarming fact that the vessel was making water rapidly, and being unable at 
once to release her, it seemed that certain destruction awaited every one on 
board. Twenty hours of incessant labor at the pumps, and working at the 
steam anchor, failed to release the ship, which continued to beat upon the rock 
until it appeared that the floating of her off from her present support must be 
followed by her sinking. But when the crew had fairly exhausted themselves 
she was finally released, and a novel expedient was adopted to prevent her 
sinking, which she must have done after a delay of two or three hours. A sail 
was quickly brought into service, to which was lightly sewed a cushion of oakum 
smeared with offal, and with this preparation it was swung under the ship until 
it passed over the rent in her bottom. The inrush of water held it in place, 
and this pressure made the padded sail an excellent substitute for a bulkhead. 
The leak was now so materially checked that it could be kept under control 
by the pumps, and the ship, after beating about for three days, finally found a 
suitable harbor at the mouth of Endeavor river, where she put in for repairs. 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


443 



In this vicinity Captain Cook remained for a considerable time, finding 
thereabout abundant supplies in the form of wild cabbages, fish, turtles and 
game. It was in this place that Mr. Banks discovered the kangaroo and Aus¬ 
tralian dog, or dingo, which were previously unknown to the naturalists of the 
civilized world. A few of the former were killed and considered a great delicacy. 

It was not until after weeks of patient effort that our voyagers were able 

to have any communications 
with the Australians, who could 
not be induced to approach near¬ 
er than one hundred yards, until 
by accident Cook threw a fish 
toward a party of eight natives. 
This act seemed to secure their 
confidence in the peaceful inten¬ 
tions of their white visitors, and 
soon after another party was in¬ 
duced to come on board the ship. 
All the natives of both sexes 
were entirely nude, and the only 
body decoration noticed was a 
few streaks of paint on the 
breast and a piece of bone run 
through the septum of the nose. 
They placed no value on the 
many gaudy presents which 
were given them, but so greatly 
desired some of the turtles which 
Cook’s men had caught that, 
their requests being refused, 
they attempted to take two of 
the turtles by force. The effort 
being in vain they exhibited 
great anger, and on gaining the 
shore set fire to the grass, which 
astounded by the sight of kangaroos. speedily threatened destruction 

to the tents and stores not yet moved back to the ship. So intent were the natives 
on doing serious injury to the expedition, that at last it became necessary to fire 
a charge of small shot among them which wounded one and brought the 
others to a full appreciation of the white men’s power. A reconciliation 
was effected afterwards however, and Cook and his men were entertained on the 
following day by a party of lance throwers, who were so skilful that they could 
discharge their weapons with extraordinary accuracy a distance of fifty yards, 
though the lance never flew more than a distance of four feet above the ground. 



444 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 



A SURPRISING THING SEEN ON THE NEW GUINEA COAST. 

On August 23d, 1870, Cook left Booby Island, off the coast of Australia, 
and sailing in a north-west direction, on September 3d a landing was made on 
the southern coast of New Guinea. Upon going on shore Cook and his com¬ 
panions were attacked by three of the natives, who on being dispersed by a musket 
volley, soon returned with 
about sixty others who threw 
darts, and from little canes 
which they carried issued a 
smoke exactly like the dis¬ 
charge of a gun, but giving 
forth no noise. Concerning 
this singular attack and more 
wonderful weapons used, Cook 
says : “All this time they were 
shouting defiance and letting 
off their fires by four or five 
at a time. What these fires 
were, or for what purpose in¬ 
tended, we could not imagine; 
those who discharged them 
had in their hands a short 
piece of stick, possibly a hol¬ 
low cane, which they swung 
sideways from them and we 
immediately saw fire and 
smoke exactly resembling that 
produced by a musket dis¬ 
charge and of no longer dura¬ 
tion. This wonderful phe¬ 
nomenon was observed from 
the ship and the deception 
was so great that the people 
on board thought they had 
firearms, and in the boat, if 
we had not been so near as 
that we must have heard the 
report, we should have 
thought they had been firing volleys.” This inhospitable reception which proved 
to Cook the great danger attendant upon an attempt to continue on, or pen¬ 
etrate the island, induced him to directly abandon the coast and proceed west¬ 
ward to Batavia. On the way the vessel came upon the Island of Java, a Dutch 
possession, where after many difficulties a landing was made and a supply of fresh 
meat, consisting of buffalo, sheep and hogs, was obtained. 


MINISTERING TO THE SICK SCIENTIST. 



UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


445 



SICKNESS AND DEATH AT BATAVIA. 

Continuing the voyage Cook put into Batavia on October 3d, to repair his 
ship which was in a sorry condition, and making water rapidly. A great 
delay was encountered in getting the necessary permission from the Dutch 
Governor-General, so that it was the beginning of November before the ships 
were beached. In the meantime, the ships’ officers and crews took up their 

quarters on shore, where, ow¬ 
ing to bad sewerage and ma¬ 
laria, nearly all of them fell 
violently ill. Mr. Monkhouse, 
the surgeon, died, and little 
Taytete, son of Tupia, the 
Otahe'ite chief, quickly fol¬ 
lowed. Banks and Solander 
were at death’s door, and as 
a last effort to save their 
lives, they were moved into 
the country under the care of 
some slave women. By good 
nursing they recovered, but 
Tupia, who had been long un¬ 
well, fell a victim to the same 
illness that had carried away 
his son and others of the ex¬ 
pedition. 

The necessarily protracted 
stay in Batavia afforded Banks 
and Solander, after their re¬ 
covery, opportune to acquaint 
themselves with the. customs, 
superstitions and character of 
the native Javanese, of which 
Cook gives very full report. 
Among the many singular 
beliefs peculiar to these peo¬ 
ple is that the women not in¬ 
frequently give birth to a child 
running amuck. and a crocodile simultaneously, 

so that a large portion of the natives believe that they have a brother or sister 
crocodile. From this unaccountable superstition arises the custom of making offer¬ 
ings to these repulsive reptiles, which from occasional practice finally grew into a 
sacred observance. Another equally remarkable vagary, and one very much more se¬ 
rious, is called running-a-muck, which may be described as a Javanese making him- 










446 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


self intoxicated on opium and while in this condition seizing a dangerous weapon and 
running through the streets striking right and left at every one who chances to 
be in his way. Hundreds of people are killed every year by these wretches, who 
in turn are either slain outright, or, if taken by the officers with long spears, 
made for the purpose, they are broken upon the wheel. And if an amuck is 
wounded and a physician gives an opinion that his injuries are likely to prove 
fatal, he is immediately put to the torture. To crown the absurdities character¬ 
istic of these people, the largest tax paid by them is literally a poll-tax; because 
it is exacted of the people for wearing their hair long. Those who are unable 
to bear this burden must shave the head. 

On the 27th Captain Cook set sail from Batavia for England, but while the 
crew had greatly improved during their stay in the country, their departure was 
quickly followed by a return of the maladies which first afflicted them on land¬ 
ing on the shore of Java. Day after day those stricken grew rapidly worse, until 
before reaching Good Hope no less than nine seamen and thirteen officers and 
scientists of the expedition were buried at sea, besides several who had died 
before and were buried at Batavia. 

On June 12th, 1771, Captain Cook and his men had the unspeakable joy 
of seeing the shores of their beloved England, after an absence of nearly three 
years. 



CHAPTER XLIII. 



THE OBJECT OF COOK’S SECOND VOYAGE. 


ERIEF in the existence of a southern continent 
(“ hemisphere,” Cook calls it), which formed 
the subject of so much dispute, and which 
Cook on his first voyage hoped to determine, 
was so persistently discussed during his ab¬ 
sence that the return of the great navigator 
served only to intensify public interest. 
Trade with the New World had proved 
immensely profitable, and the spirit of dis¬ 
covery possessed nearly every one who had 
been to sea, as well as greedy sovereigns 
anxious to increase their possessions. Learned 
men and maritime powers united their in¬ 
fluences to increase popular belief in the exis¬ 
tence of a southern continent, possibly as rich as 
America, lying somewhere south of eighty de¬ 
grees ; and to determine the question his Majesty, George II., ordered the Admi¬ 
ralty to provide two of the best ships obtainable, and to have them fitted as quickly 
as possible for a long voyage in quest of the problematic continent. Under this 
order the Resolution, of four hundred and sixty-two tons, and the Adventure,- 
of three hundred and thirty-six tons, were purchased, and after the most ample 
equipments, including four watches, the first ever used on a sea voyage, and 
sufficient provisions to last the crews two and a half years, were put into com¬ 
mission. Capt. James Cook was appointed to the command of the expedition 
and of the ship Resolution, and Tobias Furneaux was appointed captain of the 
Adventure. The crew of the former comprised a hundred and twelve men, and 
the latter eighty-one, all expert seamen, a great part of whom had been on 
earlier voyages in the South Sea. In addition to the crews, there were several 
scientists and specialists who accompanied the expedition by invitation, among 
these being William Rogers, a landscape painter and probably a sketch artist, 
John Reinhold Foster and his son, naturalists, William Baily and William 
Wales, astronomers, and a historiographer. 

IN A REGION OF INTENSE COLD. 

The most complete provisions having been made the expedition set sail 
from Deptford April 7th, 1772 ; but it was not until July 13th that the shores 

U47) 













UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


448 


of England faded from the voyagers’ view. On the 29th of October Cape of. 
Good Hope was reached, where a stop was made until the 22d following, when 
anchors were weighed, and the voyage in quest of a new world was properly 
begun. Directly after leaving the Cape a dreadful storm broke over the vessel, 
which caused them to lie to for two days, during which time they suffered 
considerably, and after proceeding southward for a while they were suddenly 
overtaken by such severe cold that a greater part of the live-stock on board, 
consisting of hogs, sheep and geese, perished. The loss of their provisions of 



ANGLING FOR ALBATROSSES. 

fresh meat was made good, however, b}' the capture of a large number of alba¬ 
trosses that followed the ship. Indeed, angling for these great sea birds afforded 
such delightful sport that all miseries, present and prospective, were ignored; 
for it is reckoned more exciting than the capture of any fishes of the deep. 

A SEPARATION OF THE SHIPS. 

By the middle of December the expedition had reached 50° S. latitude and 
Capt. Cook beheld a vast body of ice which in places rose to mountain height, 
and led the officers of both vessels to believe that they saw the rugged shores 






UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


449 


AN EVIDENCE OF CANNIBALISM 

While Cook was lying in Dusky Bay he utilized his time by making 
friends with the natives and killing ducks and geese, immense quantities of 
which swarmed in the inlets and coves thereabouts. The natives were friendly 
29 



of a new continent, but upon a closer approach the delusion was dispelled by 
a realization that instead of a shore of safety, they were sailing among ice¬ 
bergs which might embrace the ships to their destruction. By good fortune 
and a brisk wind, the two vessels made their escape and beat about in search 
of land, which was thought to be near, until February 9th 1773 when a heavy 
gale came on which resulted in a separation of the vessels. Cook being unable, 
after long effort, to obtain sight of his consort continued on westward, seeing 

many ice islands and various 
species of water birds, but dis¬ 
covering no land until March 
25th when the coast of New 
Zealand was sighted and he put 
into Dusky Bay. In this neigh¬ 
borhood Capt. Cook remained 
for a period of fourteen weeks, 
and until the Adventure hove 
in sight just as he was prepar¬ 
ing to take his departure for 
Van Dieman’s land. A greater 
part of this interval had been 
spent by Capt. Furneaux in 
making an exploration of Van 
Dieman’s land, for which he 
steered directly after the separ¬ 
ation of the ships. His exami¬ 
nation of that land led to the 
discovery that it was an island, 
instead of forming a part of 
Australia as had been previously 
supposed. The inhabitants were 
found to be of the lowest kind, 
who appeared to live off of grass¬ 
roots, fish and such small game 
as they were able to kill with 
their indifferent wooden weap¬ 
ons. They had no canoes, nor 
weapons more effective than spears, and their huts, which were never larger 
than would accommodate more than three or four persons, were flimsily con¬ 
structed and scarcely more protective than those of the Feugans. 


SCENE ON VAN DIEMAN’S LAND. 










450 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 



and he saw only one instance of cannibalism, or rather a sign that the New 
Zealanders had not fully abandoned that horrible practice. Among the many 
canoes that visited the ship, the crew of one had with them the head of a 
man who had been recently killed, which they carried in a bag and tried 
hard to keep concealed from view, knowing with what repugnance their 
white visitors regarded cannibalism. When Cook tried to secure the head 
the natives leaped back into their canoes and paddled with all possible speed 
for the shore, as if afraid he would punish them for their atrocious practices. 

It was here that Cook witnessed a grand spectacle, which he describes at 
great length and with much particularity. The sight was that of no less than 


A NATIVE LAD ASSAULTED BY A GOAT. 

six gigantic water-spouts, one of which was scarcely sixty yards from the 
ship. He says the sea showed no agitation except around about the water¬ 
spouts, which apparently rose up out of the ocean instead of being sucked 
up by a whirling, dipping cloud, as is usually the case. There was a dead 
calm too, and no unusual influences were observed to attend the phenomenon. 

THE BILLY GOAT ATTACKS A NATIVE BOY. 

The Adventure and Resolution having re-united after a long separation, 
the event was happily celebrated, after which the two sailed for Queen Char¬ 
lotte’s Sound, New Zealand, where they both came to anchor and were visited 
by several canoes filled with natives. Among these visitors was an old chief, ac- 

























UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


451 


companied by bis son, some fifteen years of age, who besought Capt. Cook to 
give the lad a white shirt. The request was complied with and for an hour or 
more the ships’ crew was amused by the extraordinary pride and pompousness 
exhibited by the boy, who paraded the deck with an air of pomposity which 

Beau Brummel 
himself never 
exceeded. It un¬ 
fortunately hap¬ 
pened that while 
strutting up and 
down before his 
delighted audi¬ 
ence, the boy 
came within 
reach of a large 
billy goat, which 
was tied on deck 
and which tak¬ 
ing the strutting 
attitude of the 
black boy as a 
defiance, launch¬ 
ed forward with 
irresistible im¬ 
pulse, catching 
the lad fairly on 
the soft pad 
about the hips, 
and landing him 
upon a large coil 
of rope amid 
thunderous ap¬ 
plause of the 
startled specta¬ 
tors. This in¬ 
glorious termi- 
nation of the 
boy’s ostenta¬ 
tious display 

might have been more conclusive had the goat been given freedom to repeat 
the attack, but the shirt was spoiled, and to assuage the young man’s grief 
Cook kindly supplied him with another, whereupon the proud lad made a quick 
retreat to the shore. 



PROCESSION OF FEUXE-rLAYERS. 















452 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


Having given directions to Capt. Fumeaux, of the Adventure, where to 
rendezvous, in case of another separation of the ships, Capt. Cook left New 
Zealand on the 7th of June and sailed south-westwardly, to renew his quest for 
a southern continent. After a month of fruitless search and attaining 70° deg. 
S. latitude, he turned northward and on August 15th arrived again at Otaheite. 

Upon reaching the place where he had remained some months in 1869, Cook 
vas joy’ously’ welcomed and a reception was tendered him by the King at which 
some dances were performed and what appeared to be a drama enacted for his 
amusement, in which a procession of feather-bedecked flute players took a promi¬ 
nent part. Several of the Otaheitans enquired about Tupia, but expressed 
little feeling when told he had died a natural death at Batavia. After a short 
stay at Otaheite Cook departed on a visit for other islands of the Society Group, 
taking with him a native named Poreo, who was eager to accompany him as an 
interpreter, and whose services were found to be most valuable. Capt. Fumeaux 
also took with him a young native, named Omai, who remained with him until 
his return to England and was there given the opportunity to acquire the arts 
of civilization, but at the expiration of two years he was glad to return to Ota¬ 
heite with Cook on his third voyage, as will be hereafter described. 

On September 14th Cook and the other officers of both ships dined with the 
Chief, by whom they were feasted in the most agreeable manner. In the absence 
of tables the ground was thickly covered with green leaves, around which the 
diners assembled, and immediately- after two steaming roast pigs were thrown 
into the centre of the party, all of whom being prepared with knives fell to 
without ceremony to cutting portions from the pigs, which were of about sixty 
pounds weight each. Besides this meat, the leaf-covered floor was garnished 
with hot bread-fruit and plantains, and the milk of cocoa-nuts provided a deli¬ 
cious drink. After dining heartily’ the ships’ officers retired, whereupon a wild 
scramble was begun by the natives, who had been onlookers at the feast, for 
such bits as had fallen among the leaves. This fact led Capt. Cook to believe 
that though pigs were fairly plentiful on the island the common people were by 
no means accustomed to eating them. Indeed they gladly assisted in the 
butchering of pigs, and thought their labors well rewarded by a gift of the 
entrails. 

SACRIFICE OF HUMAN BEINGS. 

Though Cook had, by his two visits and considerable stay among the 
Otaheitans, made himself acquainted with most of their customs, it was not until 
now that he obtained proof of his suspicions that, on certain occasions, human 
sacrifices were made a part of their religious ceremonies: 

Proceeding to the island of Mata via, one of the group, in company with 
some of his crew, he came upon a morai , or cemetery’, in which he observed a 
corpse lying upon a low scaffold with a quantity of provisions about the body. 
Drawing the natives into conversation, he inquired if they did not sacrifice hogs, 
dogs and fowls to their god, Eotua , to which he received an affirmative reply’; 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


453 


and gaining their confidence by assuming an indifferent air, Cook asked if 
humans were not also occasionally sacrificed, to which a chief responded that it 
was true they made offerings of humans at the death of important personages, 
but that those who were thus sacrificed were invariably men who had been con¬ 
demned for crime, and who were unable to redeem themselves. Such persons 
forfeited their lives and were killed and made offerings to the god Eolua, who is 
the Otaheitan’s supreme being. Of this custom Cook quotes from Mr. Williams, 
in his “ Missionary Visits in the South-Sea Islands,” the following: “The 
system of human sacrifices did not prevail at the Navigator Islands, but at the 
Hervey Group, and still more at the Tahitian and Society Islands, where it was 
carried to an extent truly appalling. There was one ceremony called Rainna- 



FEAST OF THE RESTORATION. 


tavehi-raa , " the feast of restoration,’ at which no less than seven human beings 
were always required. This ceremony was always celebrated after an invading 
army had driven the inhabitants to the mountains, and desecrated the morai by 
cutting down the branches of the sacred trees, and cooking their food with them, 
and the wooden altars and decorations of the sacred place. As soon as the retire¬ 
ment of the invaders allowed the refugees to leave their hiding place, the first 
object was to celebrate this ‘ feast of restoration,’ which was supposed to restore 
the morai to its previous sanctity, and to reinstate the god in his former glory. 
A few years ago (Mr. Williams wrote in 1837), I sent to England a very 
sacred relic called maro-ura , or the red sash. This was a piece of net-work 
about seven inches wide and six feet long, upon which the feathers of the paro- 








































454 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


quet were neatly fastened. It was used at the inauguration of their greatest 
kin^s, j nst as the crown is with us; and the most honorable appellation which 
a chief could receive was Arii-maro-ura , King of the red sash. A new piece, 
about eighteen inches in length, was attached at the inauguration of every 
sovereign, to accomplish which several victims were required. The first was for 
the mau-raa-titi , or the stretching it upon pegs in order to attach it to the new 
piece. Another was necessary for the fatu-raa , or attaching the new portion, or 
a third for the pin-raa , or twitching the sacred relic off the pegs. This not only 
invested the sash itself with a solemn importance, but also rendered the chief 
who wore it most noble in public estimation. On the eve of war also, human 
victims were invariably required. 

“ When the priest declared a sacrifice necessary, messengers were dis¬ 
patched by the King to the various chiefs to collect the requisite number 
of victims. These emissaries would inquire, on entering the house, if the 
chief had a broken calabash, or a rotten cocoa-nut at hand (terms very well 
understood), on which the devoted objects, often long before fixed upon, were 
pointed out, and instantly knocked down with a small round stone concealed 
in the hollow of the hand by the messengers, when others rushed in and 
crushed the skull to pieces by beating it in with stones, after which the 
body was carried to the morai. If the victim took refuge in a house, he was 
speared to death from the outside. 

“ As soon as one of the family had been selected all of the male 
members were looked upon as devoted to the same horrid purpose. It 
would avail them nothing if they removed to another island, for the reason 
of. their removal would soon be known there, and whenever a sacrifice was 
required, it would be sought amongst them.” 



CHAPTER XLIV. 

SEPARATION OF THE SHIPS, AND A CHIEF PICKPOCKET. 

EPARTING from the Society Islands, Cook sailed 
west until he discovered a small island to 
which he gave the name of Hervey, but 
finding no suitable landing there he con¬ 
tinued his course and on October ist came 
in sight of the Island of Middleburg and 
two days later reached Amsterdam, both » 
of which islands he visited and held a 
pleasant intercourse with the natives, whom 
he found very hospitable. 

Four days were spent at these islands, 
at the expiration of which time Cook de¬ 
parted for New Zealand, which he reached 
on the 2 ist following. Some of the natives 
came off to the ship, but a heavy gale 
coming up they soon put back to shore, 
and during the ten days that followed the 
weather was so heavy that a safe anchorage 
could not be found. At length the Endeavor and Adventure parted company 
and Cook had to put into Queen Charlotte’s Sound for repairs, hoping that as 
appointment had been made to rendezvous there his companion ship would 
directly reach that harbor. His hope was not realized, however, and after 
remaining in the Sound for three weeks his anxiety for the Adventure’s safety 
was such that he set out in search of her, but all to no avail. While lying 
here Cook began to barter with the natives, of whom he thus writes: 

“ When we were upon this traffic they showed a great inclination to pick 
my pockets, and to take away the fish with one hand which they had just 
given me with the other. This evil one of the chiefs undertook to remove, and 
with fury in his eyes made a show of keeping the people at a proper distance. 

I applauded his conduct, but at the same time kept so close a look-out as to 
detect him in picking my pocket of a handkerchief, which I suffered him to 
put in his bosom before I seemed to know anything of the matter, and then I 
told him what I had lost. He affected ignorance, till I took it from him; and 
then he put it off with a laugh, acting his part with so much address that it 
was hardly possible for me to be angry with him, so that we remained good 
friends, and he accompanied me on board to dinner.” 

(455) 



456 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 



CANNIBALISM OF THE NEW ZEALANDERS. 

Notwithstanding the thievery of the natives, Cook avoided a rupture with 
them as forcible means could only have resulted to his very great disadvantage, 
since he considered it his duty to remain in the sound in order to meet the 
Adventure which he still hoped would put in there as soon as possible if she 
had not been lost in the gale that separated them. In the afternoon of No¬ 
vember 23d, some of Cook’s officers went on shore to amuse themselves, when 
they were horrified at beholding the head and entrails of a youth, who had 


NEW ZEALANDERS PISHING. 

been recently killed, lying on the beach and the heart stuck on a forked stick 

which was fixed to one of the canoes. Cook says: “ One of the gentlemen 

bought the head and brought it on board, where a piece of the flesh was 
broiled and eaten by some of the natives before all of the officers and most of 

the men. I was on shore at the time, but soon after returning on board was 

informed of the above circumstances and found the quarter deck crowded with 
natives, and the mangled head, or rather part of it (for the under jaw and lip 
were wanting), lying on the taffrail. The skull had been broken on the left 
















UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


457 


side just above the temples, and the remains of the face had all the appearance 
of a youth under twenty. 

“ The sight of the head and the relation of the above circumstances struck 
me with horror and filled my mind with indignation against these cannibals. 
Curiosity, however, got the better of my indignation, especially when I consid¬ 
ered that it would avail but little, and being desirous of becoming an eye-wit¬ 
ness of a fact which many doubted I ordered a piece of the flesh to be broiled 
and brought to the quarter deck, where one of these cannibals ate it with sur¬ 
prising avidity. This had such an effect on some of our people as to make 
them sick. Oedidee (who came on board with me from Otaheite) was so affected 
by the sight as to become perfectly- motionless and seemed as if metamorphosed 
into a statue of horror. It is utterly impossible for art to describe that pas¬ 
sion with half the force that it appeared in his countenance. When roused 
from this state by some of us, he burst into tears, continued to weep and scold 
by turns, told them they were vile men and that he neither was nor would 
any longer be their friend. He even would not suffer them to touch him ; he 
used the same language to one of the gentlemen who cut off the flesh, and 
refused to accept or even touch the knife with which it was done. Such was 
Oedidee’s indignation against the vile custom and worthy of imitation by every 
rational being. 

“Among many reasons which I have heard assigned for the prevalence of 
this horrid custom, the want of animal food has been one; but how far this is 
deducible either from facts or circumstances, I shall leave those to find out who 
advanced it. In every part of New Zealand where I have been, fish was in 
such plenty that the natives generally caught as much as served both them¬ 
selves and us. They have also plenty of dogs, nor is there any want of wild 
fowl which they very well know how to kill. So that neither this nor the 
want of food of any kind can in my opinion be the reason. But whatever it 
may be, I think it was but too evident that they had a great liking for this 
kind of food.” 

After coasting New Zealand for several days Cook took his departure from 
that island, at last abandoning hope of meeting with the Adventure, as no other 
rendezvous had been designated, so he set sail again in quest of the supposed 
southern continent. 

For a period of three months Cook beat about in the South Sea encoun¬ 
tering many perils from vast fields of ice which more than once threatened his 
ship with certain destruction; but gaining a southern latitude of seventy-one 
degrees and ten minutes without once discovering land, in the latter part of 
February he turned northward with the intention of seeking for Juan Fernandez. 
After passing the vicinity in which geographers and explorers had placed 
this island without finding any land, Cook concluded that it was one of 
many other apocryphal islands and setting his course due west he arrived at 
Easter Island, March 13th, 1784. This land was discovered in 1772 by Roggeween, 



COOK’S VISIT TO EASTER ISLAND 















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE EANDS. 


459 


a Dutch navigator, who was first also to sight Juan Fernandez, but on account 
of the hostility of the natives he made no landing, and his description of the 
island is therefore very unsatisfactory, so much so indeed, that he declares the 
natives he saw were giants, whereas in fact that they are slightly below the 
medium height of Europeans. 

THE WONDROUS STONE STATUES CARVED BY AN EXTINCT PEOPLE. 

In some respects Easter Island, though only eleven miles long and six 
miles broad, is the most remarkable island in the Pacific Ocean. Although 
considered as belonging to the Polynesian group, it is so far isolated that there 
is no other island in five hundred miles of it, standing as it does midway 
between South America and Polynesia proper, and yet it has three extinct vol¬ 
canoes which rear their heads to an altitude. of twelve hundred feet, and its 

shores nearly 
everywhere are 
rocky and preci- 
pitous. But 
more remarkable 
than this is the 
astonishing fact 
that scattered 
over the island 
are hundreds of 
giant stone im¬ 
ages, the largest 
of which is forty 
feet in height 
and nine feet 
across the shoul¬ 
ders. They have 
been carved out 

ERECT AND PROSTRATE STONE IDOLS. f native 

limestone with no little skill and evidently with tools of steel, or some other 
hard substance that was fashioned into chisels and capable of the same uses as 
steel. Much the larger number of these statues lie prostrate, but many still stand 
with grim visage and Jewish cast of feature. Some lie in the craters of the 
volcanoes and not a few are unfinished, just as if those who were fashioning 
them had been suddenly destroyed, leaving nothing but these images as evidence 
that a skillful people at one time occupied this little spot on the ocean’s great 
bosom. The island is still inhabited but by savages so incapable of performing 
such work that they ascribe to the statues a supernatural origin. 

Of the theories and traditions set forth to account for these stone images 
only one has any plausibility, viz.: That Easter Island,, like all Polynesia, is a 
remnant of a submerged continent which was once inhabited by a fairly civilized, 







460 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 






blit idol-worshipping people, who carved and set up these statues to represent 
their gods. But how the people were all destroyed, without so much as a 
fragment being left to perpetuate the race and its history, we can hardly 
conjecture. 

DESCRIPTION OF THE EASTER ISLANDS STATUES. 

Cook thus describes the images: “On the east side, near the sea, we 
observed three platforms of stone-work, or rather the ruins of them. On each 
had stood four of those large statues; but they were all fallen down but two of 
them, and also one from the third; all 
except one were broken by the fall, or 
in some measure defaced. Mr. Wales 
measured this one, and found it to be 
fifteen feet in length, and six feet 
broad over the shoulders. Bach statue 
had on its head a large cylindric stone 
of a red color, wrought perfectly round. 

The one they measured, which was not 
by far the largest, was fifty-two inches 
high, and sixty-six in diameter. • In 
some, the upper corner of the cylinder 
was taken off in a sort of concave 
quarter-round, but in others the cyl¬ 
inder was entire. 

“We observed that the west side 
of the island was also full of those 
gigantic statues; some placed in 
groups on platforms of masonry; 
others single, fixed only in the earth, 
and that not deep; and these latter 
are in general much larger than the 
others. Having measured one which 
had fallen down, we found it very near 
twenty-seven feet long, and upwards 
of eight feet over the breast or shoul¬ 
ders ; and yet this appeared consider¬ 
ably short of the size of one we saw standing; its shade, a little past two 
o’clock, was sufficient to shelter all the party, consisting of nearly thirty 
persons, from the rays of the sun. 

“ Some of these platforms of masonry are thirty or forty feet long, twelve 
or sixteen broad, and from three to twelve in height, which last in some measure 
depends on the nature of the ground. For they are generally at the brink of 
the bank facing the sea, so that this face may be ten or twelve feet or more high, 
and the other may not be above three or four. They are built or rather faced 
with hewn stone of a very large size, and the workmanship is not inferior to the 



THE GIANT’S HEAD. 




UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


461 


best plain piece of masonry we have in England. They use no sort of cement; 
yet the joints are exceedingly close, and the stones mortised and tenoned one into 
another, in a very artful manner. The side walls are not perpendicular, but 
inclining a little inwards, in the same manner that breastworks, etc., are built in 
Europe ; yet had not all this care, pain, and sagacity been able to preserve these 
curious structures from the ravages of all-devouring time. The statues, or at 
least many of them, are erected on these platforms, which serve as foundations. 
They are, as near as we could judge, about half length, ending in a sort of stump 
at the bottom, on which they stand. The workmanship is crude, but not bad; 
nor are the features of the face ill-formed, the nose and chin in particular; but 
the ears are long beyond proportion; and, as to the bodies, there is hardly any¬ 
thing like a hu¬ 
man figure about 
them.” 

WONDERFUL RELICS 
ON TINIAN ISLAND. 

During George 
Anson’s voyage 
around the world 
in 1742, in the 
ship Centurion, 
he discovered the 
Island Tinian, 
one of the La- 
drones, on which 
he found relics 
scarcely less re¬ 
markable than 
those met with 
on Easter Island. 

Of Tinian and its remarkable ruins Anson says: “ Tinian is said to have formerly 
contained 30,000 inhabitants. At the time the Centurion was there, marks were 
fresh of the island having been once fully peopled. Ruins of buildings were 
seen in all parts. They usually consisted of two rows of pyramidal pillars, 
each pillar being about six feet from the next, and the distance between the 
rows about twelve feet. The pillars were about five feet square at the base and 
thirteen feet high, and on the top of each was a semi-globe with the flat sur¬ 
face upwards. The whole of the pillars and semi-globe is solid, being composed 
of sand and stone cemented together and plastered over.” Is there not a reason¬ 
ably supposititious connection between the peoples who once occupied Easter and 
Tinian Islands ? 

There are some six hundred people occupying Easter Island, who raise sweet 
potatoes, yams, plantains and sugar cane. They live in small huts constructed 



FOUNDATIONS OF THE STONE IDOLS. 











462 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 



you will) of the natives, who never go to drink without washing themselves all 
over as soon as they have done; and if ever so many of them are together, the 
first leaps right into the middle of the hole, drinks and washes himself without 
the least ceremony; after which another takes his place and does the same. 
On the declivity of the mountain, towards the west, we met with another 
well, but the water was a very strong mineral, had a thick green scum on 
the top, and stunk intolerably. Necessity, however, obliged some to drink of 
it, but it soon made them so sick that they threw it up the same way it 
went down.” 


by setting up long poles in the ground and bending them over to a common 
centre, where they are tied together, and the roof is then thatched with grass 
and leaves. Entrance to these huts is by an opening so small that the natives 
must crawl in on their hands and knees. They have few canoes on account of 
the absence of large trees, and their weapons are of stone, with only an occa¬ 
sional bow of no considerable strength. The chief difficulty which the people 
seem to have is in a scarcity of water. This, however, is only a difficulty 
which seemed apparent to Cook, and may not be one that in fact occasions the 
natives any concern. In a search for water the crew came upon a well on the 
eastern side, which, being situated above the sea-level, contained fresh water, but 
as Cook says, “ it was dirty, owing to the filthiness or cleanliness (call it which 


WONDROUS RUINS ON TINIAN ISLAND. 









UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


463 


Departure from Easter Island being made, Cook steered north-west, and on 
April 6th he sighted the Marquesas, a group of five islands, discovered by 
Mendana in 1595. Here he came to anchor, and directly induced several canoe 
loads of natives to visit him. But instead of engaging in an exchange of pro¬ 
visions, or such things as Cook had to offer, they crowded the ship and began to 
steal right and left. Remonstrance being in vain, one of the thieves was shot dead, 
after which the islanders became disposed to barter with the voyagers. But provi¬ 
sions were scarce and the natives were ungenerous, which caused Cook to make his 
stay among the Marquesans a short one, though his first intention had been to 
remain there a considerable while. The people, with the exception of using the 
tattoo more lavishly, he found to be very like the Otaheitans, and their customs 
very similar. Their weapons were somewhat more polished, and in addition to 
spears and clubs, the Marquesans used slings for throwing stones, which they could 
project to a great distance, but with so little accuracy that they were of small 
value as weapons. 

THE OTAHEITAN FLEET. 

Leaving the Marquesas group April 10th, Cook continued a westerly 
and north-westerly course, passing near several small islands, until the 22d fol¬ 
lowing, when he came to anchor in Matavia Bay, Otaheite, where he met with 
a joyous welcome from his old friends. Four days later he was entertained 
with a truly astonishing sight, which was no less than a display of the entire 
naval force of the two principal districts of the Society group, consisting of 160 
immense double canoes fully equipped for war and manned by more than six 
thousand warriors. These fighting men were dressed in the most surprising 
uniforms, which comprised a lavish amount of cloth in the form of long flowing 
robes, and turbans, while all wore breast-plates, and helmets that were fully 
three feet or even more in height, and their arms were clubs, spears, and stones. 
Besides the war vessels, there were 170 smaller double canoes, rigged with mast 
and sails, each being provided with a small house, which the war canoes did 
not have, and were propelled by rowers. These latter vessels served as trans¬ 
ports, and their complements were eight men each; but the entire force num¬ 
bered nearly eight thousand men. This immense fleet soon departed to sup¬ 
press a rebellion in the island of Eimeo, one of the group where a new king¬ 
dom was sought to be set up. 

On the 5th of June (1774), Cook left the Society group, and turned again 
towards New Zealand. On his way, he discovered Savage Island, so named be¬ 
cause of the degradation and implacable hostility of the natives, and thence 
proceeding landed at the Friendly Islands on the 27th, where he held a profit¬ 
able intercourse with the natives for several days. This group was first dis¬ 
covered by Tasman, but Cook gave to them the name by which they are still 
known, on account of the generous conduct towards him of the natives. Leav¬ 
ing the Friendly Islands, he called next at New Hebrides, discovering Turtle, 
Mallicollo, Sandwich, Shepherds, Apee, and many other small islands on the way. 


464 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


A FIGHT WITH THE NATIVES. 

At the island of Erromango Cook landed and treated with the natives, large 
numbers of whom he saw gathering on the shore. They received him with 
great courtesy, and though they formed in a semi-circle about the bow of his 
boat and all were armed with spears, darts, clubs, and bows, Cook had no suspicion 
of any hostile intention. After requests made of them for water and provision 
had been treated with indifference, the chief ordered the boat to be drawn up 
on the beach, which action, as well as a reluctance to receive presents which 
he offered aroused some alarm, and Cook stepped into the boat and ordered it 
to be shoved from the shore. At this the natives rushed down and seized it, 
while others grabbed the oars out of the rower’s hands. Signs and threats be¬ 
ing without effect, Cook was resolved to punish the treacherous chief, at whom 
he aimed his musket, but it missed fire. At this, thinking the white men were 
defenceless, the islanders made a vicious attack, which was met by a fire from 
Cook’s men that killed two and wounded many, at which the natives retreated. 
In the fight, however, the islanders exhibited bravery and the power to do great 
harm with their weapons, for one of Cook’s men was struck in the cheek by a 
dart that penetrated quite two inches and produced a dreadful wound, which did 
not heal for a month and left a permanent disfigurement of the face. Mr. Gil¬ 
bert, another of the crew, was struck iu the breast by an arrow fired at thirty 
paces, and only the thick clothing which he wore prevented a probabl}^ fatal 
injury. The arrow was only a reed tipped with hard wood, yet it went through 
several thicknesses of clothing and penetrated the flesh, but not sufficiently to 
cause a serious wound. On account of this adventure Cook named the place 
of the encounter Traitor’s Head. 

From Erromango the Resolution sailed to Tanna near by, which is dis¬ 
tinguished for the active volcanoes that light up and cast showers of ashes over 
the entire island. Here the natives were not entirely hospitable, but made a 
boastful exhibition of their weapons, which finally led to the killing of one of 
them by a sentry. After this tragic incident the. islanders became thoroughly 
humbled, and supplied the expedition with hogs, fowls, cocoa-nuts, and plan¬ 
tains. These several islands, first discovered by Quiros in 1606, and supposed 
by him to be a part of a southern continent, were thoroughly explored by Cook, 
who gave to them the name of New Hebrides, by which they have ever since 
been known. 



CHAPTER XLV. 



AMONG THE NEW CALEDONIANS. 

the 2d of September, and four days after leaving 
New Hebrides, Cook discovered New Caledonia, after 
which he stood in and made a landing on the 5th, 
when his vessel was almost immediately surrounded 
by eighteen canoes laden with natives, who, though 
naked and without arms, were easily induced to come 
on board. Unlike other islanders with whom Cook 
had been in contact, those of New Caledonia were 
not only kindl}’’ and peaceable, but they exhibited no 
dishonest propensities. Their weapons were very much 
like those used by the Friendly Islanders, but in no other 
respect, save amity, was there any similarity. Their 
huts were large and of a lofty, conical shape, with leaning apex 
due to the weight of wood ornaments which projected from the top. 
Their canoes were cumbersome affairs, built like a catamaran, with heavy 
platform laid across, on which a fire was nearly always burning, and as a canopy 
of matting was built over the centre, the canoes were in many cases the only 
dwelling places of those who obtained their living by fishing or by gathering 
other products of the sea. 

Cook remained among the New Caledonians until September 13th, when he 
departed en route for New Zealand, discovering Norfolk Island on the way, 
which was uninhabited and only about fifteen miles in circuit; but it had 
plenty of fresh water, and the shores and trees were fairly covered with a great 
variety of birds. On the 17th the coast of New Zealand was sighted, and on 
the following day the Resolution came to anchor before Ship Cove in Queen 
Charlotte’s Sound. On going ashore many evidences were observed that the 
Adventure had put in here after Cook’s departure, which dispelled the fears 
that had been for some time entertained for her safety. 

DEPARTURE FOR ENGLAND. 

On the 10th of November Cook left New Zealand on his return trip to 
England, proceeding eastward to Terra del Fuego, the shore of which he 
sighted on the 17th of December. It was not until the 21st, however, that a 
safe anchorage was found in a harbor to which Cook gave the name of 
Christmas Sound. Here he met several of the greasy, naked, loud-smelling 
natives, who flocked about his ship and made bold to come on board without 
invitation. But they offered no indignities, nor did they in any manner 
30 U 6 5 ) 






466 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


flagrantly demean themselves. In the waters and on the land hereabout there 
were found immense numbers of geese, terns, seals, and fish, so that Cook 
sent a number of his crew to gather a large provision of fresh meat and 
tern eggs. Nearly a hundred seals were killed by knocking them on the 
head, and twice as many geese, shags, penguins, and ducks fell to the aim 
of those who had fowling pieces, and a great banquet was prepared for 
Christmas day, which proved the most delicious repast that the crew had en¬ 
joyed since leaving Eng¬ 
land. 

New Year’s day 
(1775) Cook left Terra 
del Fuego, and continu¬ 
ing eastward, passed 
Falkland islands, isle 
of Georgia, and several 
others at which he call¬ 
ed, so that it was not 
until March 21st that 
he arrived at the Cape 
of Good Hope. Scarcely 
had he set his foot on 
shore when a letter was 
handed to him from 
Capt. Furneaux, who 
had preceded Cook 
several months on the 
return trip to England. 

In this letter Capt. 

Furneaux gave a de- 
Mption of the events 
'that had befallen his 
ship after his separation 
from the Resolution. 

The gales had nearly caused a wreck of the Adventure, which beat about 
until November 30th, or more than three weeks, before being able to come to 
anchor in Queen Charlotte’s Sound, which was six days after Cook’s ship, the 
Resolution, had departed. Soon after landing, being much in need of provisions, 
Capt. Furneaux sent some of his men to treat with the natives, while others were 
employed in repairing the ship which had been so greatly injured in weathering 
the terrific gales. On the 17th of December, the repairs having been com¬ 
pleted and satisfactory store of provisions, wood and water, placed on board, it 
was Capt. Furneaux’ intention to sail on the following day, but as a supply 
of wild greens was thought to be necessary and easy to be obtained, he sent 


















UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


467 


a boat crew of nine of his best men in a large cutter in charge of Midship¬ 
man Rowe up the sound for that purpose. To the surprise of the Captain, 
the ten men thus sent out did not return at the time appointed, and their 
absence being further prolonged, he became so uneasy about them, though 
entertaining no suspicion that they had been in conflict with the natives, that 
he sent out another boat-load of ten men under Lieutenant Burney to search 
for them. The report which Burney made upon his return to the ship some 
time in the night of the 18th was horrifying in the extreme. 


MASSACRE OF CAPT. FURNEAUX’S MEN. 

Says he: “I now kept close to the east shore, and came to another set¬ 
tlement, where the Indians invited us ashore. I inquired of them about the 
boat, but they pretended ignorance. They appeared very friendly here, and 
sold us some fish. Within an hour after we left this place, in a small beach 
adjoining to Grass Cove, we saw a very large double canoe just hauled up, 
_ with two men 

and a dog. 
The men, on 
seeing us, left 
their canoe, 
and ran into 
the woods. 

“ This gave 
me reason to 
suspect I 
should here 
get tidings of 
the cm er. We 
went on hore, 
and searc 1 in 

the canoe, where we found one of the rullock ports of the cutter, and 
shoes, one of which was known to belong to Mr. Woodhouse, one of o^r 
midshipmen. One of the people, at the same time, brought me a piece of 
meat, which he took to be some of the salt meat belonging to the cutter’s 
crew. On examining this, and smelling it, I found it was fresh. Mr. Fannin 
(the master) who was with me, supposed it was dog’s flesh, and I was of the 
same opinion, for I still doubted their being cannibals. But we were soon 
convinced by most horrid and undeniable proof. A great many baskets (about 
twenty) lying on the beach tied up, we cut open. Some were full of roasted 
flesh, and some of fern-root, which serves them for bread. On farther search, 
we found more shoes and a hand, which we immediately knew to have 
belonged to Thomas Hill, one of our forecastle men, it being marked T. H. 
with an Otaheite tattoo instrument. I went with some of the people a little 
way up the woods, but saw nothing else. Coming down again, there was a 



FIGHT AND MASSACRE OF FURNEAUX’S MEN. 






UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


408 


round spot covered with fresh earth about four feet diameter, where something 
had been buried. Having no spade, we began to dig with a cutlass ; and in 
the meantime I launched the canoe with intent to destroy her; but seeing a 
great smoke ascending over the nearest hill, I got all the people into the boat, 
and made what haste I could to be with them before sunset. 

“ On the beach were two bundles of celery, wdiich had been gathered for 
loading the cutter. A broken oar was stuck upright in the ground, to which 
the natives had tied their canoes, a proof that the attack had been made here. 
I then searched all along at the back of the beach, to see if the cutter was 
there. We found no boat, but instead of her, such a shocking scene of carnage 
and barbarity as can never be mentioned or thought of but with horror; for 
the heads, hearts, and lungs of several of our people were seen lying on the 
beach, and, at a little distance, the dogs gnawing their entrails. While we 
remained almost stupefied on the spot, Mr. Fannin called to us that he heard 
the savages gathering together in the w^oods; on which I returned to the boat, 
and hauling alongside the canoes, we demolished three of them. While this 
was transacting, the fire on the top of the hill disappeared; and we could hear 
the Indians in the woods at high w T ords: I suppose quarrelling whether or no 
they should attack us, and try to save their canoes. It now grew dark: I there¬ 
fore just stepped out, and looked once more behind the beach, to see if the 
cutter had been hauled up in the bushes; but seeing nothing, of her, returned 
and put off. Our whole force would have been barely sufficient to have gone 
up the hill, and to have ventured with half (for half must have been left to 
guard the boat) would have been fool-hardine'ss.” 

Cook remained in Table Bay, at Cape of Good Hope, until iVpril 16th, when 
he continued on his return trip, stopping at St. Helena, and at Ascension Island, 
from whence he sailed westward to Fernando do Noronho, thence to Island Fayal, 
so that he did not arrive at Plymouth until July 29th, when he immediately 
proceeded to London, to give an account of his wanderings and discoveries. 








CHAPTER XLVI. 


CAPTAIN COOK’S THIRD VOYAGE. 



APTAIN COOK’S return to England was 
appropriately celebrated, and he was made a 
social lion, according to the custom which 
prevails in that country and America of lion¬ 
izing those who have acquired sudden fame 
through the performance of what is regarded 
as perilous service. 

Cook did not discover a southern con¬ 
tinent, but he did the next best thing, in 
pretty thoroughly satisfying his supporters 
that no such continent existed, hence a fail¬ 
ure of his immediate object resulted in a dis¬ 
covery of little less consequence; for it served 
settle a speculation, which, if continued, must 
have cost a great deal of treasure, with no other 
determination. But as public belief in the existence of a southern continent 
was dispelled, that in the existence of a sea route by the way of the 
Arctic Ocean, between Europe and China, directly absorbed public interest as a 
substitute. And the government of England, recognizing in Cook the first navi¬ 
gator of the period, signified a desire that he accept a commission to go in quest 
of the supposititious North-west Passage. Great interest was taken in the pro¬ 
posed expedition, and in preparing it the Earl of Sandwich took a leading part, 
attending personally to seeing that the equipment was in accordance with all of 
Cook’s wishes. 

The Resolution, which had performed such excellent service in the expedi¬ 
tion from which Cook had just returned, was thought to be the best ship that 
could be had for the purpose, and was accordingly selected for the third voy¬ 
age, now about to be undertaken. Another vessel, the Discovery, of 300 tons, 
was purchased and put into like commission, and Captain Clerke was appointed 
to the command. Besides a vast store of provisions for the crew, the ships took 
on several head of cattle, goats, hogs, poultry, and dogs, with which to stock 
certain islands that were believed might be made valuable some time for 
British commerce. Besides the crews there were scientists, naturalists, artists, 
astronomers, and the young man, Omai, whom Captain Furneaux had taken 
from the island Huaheine, of the Society Group, to be educated in England. 
This young man, though of a quick intelligence, had been only an attendant 

(469) 















470 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


of the Otaheite King, and hence could hardly have been expected to exercise 
any great influence upon his people after his return to them, even though 
they should recognize how superior his qualifications had been made by long 
contact with English civilization. But a greater mistake than the selecting for 
such a purpose one of the common people of the island, was the character of 
the education he received. 

AN OTAHEITAN AT THE ENGUSH COURT. 

Being the first native of the South Sea Islands brought to England, Omai 
was sought after as a wonder, and became the “lion” of a season; he was intro¬ 
duced to fashionable parties, conducted to splendid entertainments of the highest 
classes, and presented at court. In all these positions, the pliancy natural to 
the Otaheitans and their congeners, enabled him to preserve a perfect propriety 
of demeanor, and his naturally lively disposition rendered him, with his imper¬ 
fect English (a language varying so much from the idiom of his native tongue, 
as to render its perfect acquirement very difficult), an exceedingly entertaining 
guest. As such he was welcomed everywhere, and was carried about from one pub¬ 
lic exhibition to another, without time being allowed him to comprehend any; but 
no effort was made to instruct him in any useful art, or to enable him to com¬ 
prehend the wonders he beheld, or the condition of the society by which he was 
surrounded. Of all those who took an interest in him, Mr. Granville Sharp 
alone exerted himself to turn his attention to rational pursuits, by teaching him 
to write, and instructing him in some degree in the principles of Christianity. 

When he departed from England, he was loaded with presents, but few 
of which were calculated to be of real service. He carried with him a coat- 
of-mail, a suit of armor, a musket, pistol, cartouch-box, cutlasses, powder and ball, 
a portable organ and an electrical machine ; but no implements of agriculture 
or useful tools are included in the catalogue of his treasures. Captain Cook 
procured for him a grant of land, on which a house in the European style was 
erected for him ; and he was furnished with seeds, plants, horses, goats, and other 
useful animals. His warlike stores rendered him a man of consequence to the 
King, who gave him his daughter in marriage, and honored him with the name of 
Paari (wise, or instructed), by which name, Mr. Ellis informs us, he was ever 
afterwards spoken of by the natives. So far, however, from becoming the instructor 
or improver of his people, he seems to have sunk into the mere compliant tool 
of the King, who, Mr. Ellis states, “ not only availed himself of the effects of his 
fire-arms in periods of war, but frequently ordered him to shoot at a man at a 
certain distance, in order to see how far the musket would do execution, or to 
despatch with his pistol, in the presence of the King, the ill-fated objects of his 
deadly anger.” 

Cook took his departure from Plymouth Sound on the 16th of July, 1776, 
and reached Teneriffe on the 31st, where he made a short stay to procure sub¬ 
sistence for the animals that he had on board. Departing again on the 4th of 
August, he steered directly for Good Hope, which he did not reach until November 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


471 


the 18th, owing to heavy weather, adverse winds, and leaky ships. He remained 
here until the 30th of November, repairing his ships and rigging, when at last 
weighing anchor, he stood for Christmas Sound, calling at Kerguelen’s Land on 
the way, where a large number of seals, penguins, and other birds were killed 
for food, and a good supply of fresh water taken on. His stay in Christmas 
Sound was a short one, and from this point Cook set his course due west for 
Van Dieman’s Land, the coast of which he came in sight of on the 24th 
of January. A landing having been made, Cook was met on shore by eight 
natives, all naked and unarmed, who, however, exhibited no signs of fear of 
their visitors, until a gun was discharged, when they all immediately retreated 
to the deep woods. After a couple of days’ stay at Van Dieman’s Land, Cook 
induced others of the natives to visit him, and he was thus enabled to determine 
something of their habits. 

AMONG THE NATIVES OF VAN DIEMAN’S LAND. 

Their only weapon seemed to be a sharpened stick, and as they had no 
canoes, it was evident that they did little fishing or hunting, but subsisted 
chiefly on shell fish and such small game as they were able to take with the 
hands or traps. The women were sometimes seen to wear a kangaroo skin; 
not, however, as clothing, but rather in which to support their infants, be¬ 
cause the skin was never drawn about the body so as to cover that portion 
which needs concealment most. Nor was it understood how the kangaroos 
thus stripped of their skins were captured, though most likely by some kind 
of trap. As to their habitations, Cook says: u What the ancient poet tells us 
of Fauns and Satyrs living in hollow trees, is here realized. Some wretched 
construction of sticks, covered with bark, which do not even deserve the name 
of huts, were indeed found near the shore in the bay; but these seemed 
only to have been erected for temporary purposes, and many of their largest 
trees were converted into more comfortable habitations. These had their trunks 
hollowed out by fire, to the height of six or seven feet; and that they take 
up their abode in them sometimes was evident from the hearths, made of 
clay, to contain the fire in the middle, leaving room for four or five persons 
to sit round it. At the same time these places of shelter are durable, for 
they take care to leave one side of the tree sound, which is sufficient to 
keep it growing as luxuriantly as those which remain untouched.” 

PARTICULARS OF THE MASSACRE OF FURNEAUX’S MEN. 

Departure was made from Van Diemen’s Land January 30th, 1777, and 
on the 10th following New Zealand was sighted, and the ships were run into 
Queen Charlotte’s Sound. Here Cook was greeted by a very large party of 
natives, who, finding that it was his intention to remain in the sound awhile 
to beach and overhaul his ship, began directly the erection of huts, and so 
expeditiously did they work that in an hour, says Cook, a large village was 
built, covering nearly all of the considerable level grass ground near the ship. 
As the natives appeared peaceably disposed Cook, though at no time relax- 


472 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


ing his vigilance, made a visit to Grass Cove, the scene of the massacre of 
Captain Furneaux’s men, with the hope of gaining particulars from the 
islanders of that unfortunate affair. Nor was he disappointed, for meeting Pedro, 
an old chief with whom he had become familiar on a previous visit to the 
island, he obtained from him an account of the killing somewhat as follows: 
“ While the white people were sitting at dinner, surrounded by several of the 
natives, some of the latter stole, or snatched from them, some bread and fish, 
for which they were beat. This being resented a quarrel ensued and two New 
Zealanders were shot dead by the only two muskets that were fired. For be¬ 
fore the white people had time to discharge a third or to load again those that 
had been fired the natives rushed in upon them, overpowered them with their 
numbers and put them all to death.” 

Pedro and his companions, besides relating the history of the mas¬ 
sacre, made Cook acquainted with the very spot that was the scene of it. 
It is at the corner of the cove, on the right hand. They pointed to the 
place of the sun to mark at what hour of the day it happened, and according 
to this it must have been late in the afternoon. They also showed him the 
place where the boat lay, and it appeared to be about two hundred yards dis¬ 
tant from that where the crew were seated. One of their number, a black 
servant of Captain Furneaux, was left in the boat to take care of her. He 
was afterwards told that the black was the cause of the quarrel, which was 
said to have happened thus : One of the natives stealing something out of the 
boat the negro gave him a severe blow with a stick. The cries of the fellow 
being heard by his countrymen at a distance they imagined he was killed, 
and immediately began the attack on the whites, who, before they had time to 
reach the boat or to arm themselves against the unexpected impending danger, 
fell a sacrifice to the fury of their savage assailants. 

SAVAGE FURY OF THE NEW ZEALANDERS. 

Shortly afterwards Cook heard this story of the massacre repeated by a 
participant, and the one too, over whom the bloody fight was begun. This man 
showed no fear of punishment for his crime. Indeed, he appeared as if justifica¬ 
tion had exempted him, and he entered freely into a discussion of the tragic 
event, as well as the devouring of the bodies afterwards. This conversation led 
to inquiries respecting the manner in which the New Zealanders go to war and 
their treatment of prisoners, which Cook thus describes: “ Before they begin the on¬ 
set, they join in a war-song, to which they all keep the exactest time, and soon raise 
their passion to a degree of frantic fury, attended with the most horrid distortion 
of their eyes, mouths, and tongues, to strike terror into their enemies, which, to 
those who have not been accustomed to such a practice, makes them appear more 
like demons than men, and would almost chill the boldest with fear. To this 
succeeds a circumstance, almost foretold in their fierce demeanor, horrid, cruel, 
and disgraceful to human nature: which is, cutting in pieces, even before 
being perfectly dead, the bodies of their enemies, and after dressing them 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


473 


on a fire, devouring the flesh, not only without reluctance, but with peculiar 
satisfaction.” 

Cook weighed anchor on the 24th of February, 1777, and set his course 
towards Otaheite, but en route he discovered the islands of Maugeea and Wateeoo, 
at both of which he landed, and held some intercourse with the natives. At 
the latter, Lieutenant Burney, Omai, and two others of the crew, who had gone 
on shore, were entertainted by a dance performed by a score of elegantly formed 
and remarkably smooth-skinued women, whose beauty was much enhanced by 
long ringlets of jet black hair which fell in great profusion down their backs, 
and which constituted nearly their only dress. Some, however, wore a piece of 
glazed cloth about the waist reaching to the knees, but few of them were so 
amply clothed. At this island, Omai found three of his countrymen, the remnant 
of a party of twenty, who, while passing from Otaheite to Ulitea, had been driven 
out to sea by a gale, and after days of famishment, their canoe was capsized, in 
which disaster only four survived by being cast upon the shore of Wateeoo, while 
one of these died soon after. 

A WONDERFUL ENTERTAINMENT AT HAPAEE. 

After leaving Wateeoo Cook discovered several other islands, chiefly of coral 
formation, the natives of which he found to greatly resemble the Otaheitans. 
At Hapaee, a group some fifty miles from the Friendly Islands, Cook landed, and 
found the natives so amicably disposed and provisions there so abundant that he 
concluded to remain for a space of five days, wdiich time he profitably employed, 
and was pleasantly diverted by the islanders. Directly upon going ashore he was 
hospitably received by several hundreds of the natives, headed by their chief, 
and after cordial salutations had been passed, provision was made for a magni¬ 
ficent entertainment of the white visitors. Some hundreds of the natives, after 
retiring for an hour or so, returned, laden with yams, bread-fruit, cocoa-nuts, and 
sugar-cane, which they deposited in two heaps, intending that one pile should 
be a gift to Omai, and the other to Captain Cook. Among other articles there 
were also two pigs and six fowls afterwards placed in one of the piles, and six pigs 
and two turtles were added to the other. As soon as this munificent collection 
of provisions was laid down in order, and disposed to the best advantage, the 
bearers joined the multitude, who formed a large circle around the whole. What 
afterwards followed, Cook thus describes :— 

“ Presently, a number of men entered this circle or area before us, armed 
with clubs, made of the green branches of the cocoa-nut tree. These paraded 
about for a few minutes, and then retired, the one half to one side, and the 
other half to the other side, seating themselves before the spectators. Soon 
after they successively entered the lists, and entertained us with single combats. 
One champion, rising up and stepping fonvard from one side, challenged those 
of the other side, by expressive gestures more than by words, to send one of 
their body to oppose him. If the challenge was accepted, which was generally 
the case, the two combatants put themselves in proper attitudes, and then began 


474 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


the engagement, which continued till one or other owned himself conquered, or 
till their weapons were broken. As soon as each combat w r as over, the victor 
squatted himself down facing the chief, then rose up and retired. At the same 
time some old men, who seemed to sit as judges, gave their plaudits in a few 
words; and the multitude, especially those oil the side to which the victor be¬ 
longed, celebrated the glory he had acquired by two or three huzzas. This 
entertainment was now and then suspended for a few minutes. During these 
intervals there were both wrestling and boxing matches. The first were per¬ 
formed in the same manner as at Otaheite, and the second differed very little 



female dancers of hapaee. 


from the method practised in England. But what struck us with most surprise 
was to see a couple of lusty wenches step forth and begin boxing, without the 
least ceremony, and with as much art as the men. This contest, however, did 
not last more than half a minute before one of them gave up. The conquering 
heroine received the same applause from the spectators, which they bestowed 
upon the successful combatants of the other sex. We expressed some dislike at 
this part of the entertainment, which, however, did not prevent two other females 
from entering the lists. They seemed to be girls of spirit, and would certainly 
have given each other a good drubbing, if two old women had not interposed to 






















UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


475 


part them. All these combats were exhibited in the midst of at least three 
thousand people, and were conducted with the greatest good humor on all sides, 
though some of the champions, women as well as men, received blows, which, 
doubtless, they must have felt for some time after.” 

This entertainment having been concluded, the large store of provisions, 
which loaded four boats, was removed on shipboard, in return for which Cook 
distributed a considerable quantity of articles, which greatly pleased the chief 
and the people. 

A GREAT DANCE. 

Feenou, who appeared to be King of Hapaee islands, then expressed to 

Cook a desire to see his marines go 
through their military exercise, to 
gratify which, Cook ordered 105 of 
his men to go on shore; and they 
performed various evolutions, accom¬ 
panied by the firing of muskets, 
which so pleased the King that he in 
turn provided another entertainment, 
which was more interesting than 
that which Cook had previously wit¬ 
nessed. He describes it as follows : 

“ It was a kind of dance, so 
entirely different from anything I 
had ever seen that I fear I can give 
no description that will convey any 
tolerable idea of it to my readers. 
It was performed by men and one 
hundred and fifty persons bore their 
parts in it. Each of them had in his 
hand an instrument neatly made, 
shaped somewhat like a paddle, of 
two feet and a half in length, with a 
small handle and a thin blade, so that 
THE female boxers of hapaee. they were very light. With these in¬ 

struments they made many and various flourishes, each of which was accompanied 
with a different attitude of the body or a different movement. At first the per¬ 
formers ranged themselves in three lines, and, by various evolutions, each man 
changed his station in such a manner that those who had been in the rear came 
into the front. Nor did they remain long in the same position, but these changes 
were made by pretty quick transitions. At one time they extended themselves 
in one line; they then formed into a semicircle, and lastly into two square 
columns. While this last movement was executing, one of them advanced and 
performed an antic dance before me, with which the whole ended. 


















UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


47(5 


“ The musical instruments consisted of two drums, or rather two hollow 
logs of wood, from which some varied notes were produced by beating on them 
with two sticks. It did not, however, appear to me that the dancers were much 
directed or assisted by these sounds, but by a chorus of vocal music in which 
all the performers joined at the same time. Their song was not destitute of 
pleasing melody, and all their corresponding motions were executed with so much 
skill that the numerous body of dancers seemed to act as if they were one great 
machine. It was the opinion of every one of us that such a performance would 
have met with universal applause on a European theatre ; and it so far exceeded 
any attempt we had made to entertain them that they seemed to pique them¬ 
selves upon the superiority they had over us. As to our musical instruments, 
they held none of them in the least esteem, except the drum, and even that they 
did not think equal to their own. Our French horns, in particular, seemed to 
be held in great contempt, for neither here nor at any of the other islands would 
they pay the smallest attention to them. In order to give a more favorable 
opinion of English amusements, and to leave their minds fully impressed with 
the deepest sense of our superior attainments, I directed some firewvorks to be got 
ready, and after it w r as dark played them off in the presence of Feenou, the other 
chiefs and a vast concourse of their people. Some of the preparations we 
found damaged, but others of them were in excellent order, and succeeded so 
perfectly as to answer the end I had in view. Our water- and sky-rockets, in 
particular, pleased and astonished them beyond all conception, and the scale was 
now turned in our favor. 

A BAND OF BAMBOO PLAYERS. 

“ This, however, seemed only to furnish them with an additional motive to 
proceed to fresh exertions of their very singular dexterity, and our fire-works 
were no sooner ended than a succession of dances, which Feenou had got ready 
for our entertainment, began. As a prelude to them a band of music, or chorus 
of eighteen men, seated themselves before us, in the centre of the circle composed 
by the numerous spectators, the area of which was to be the scene of the exhi¬ 
bitions. Four or five of this band had pieces of large bamboo, from three to five 
or six feet long, each managed by one man, who held it nearly in a vertical 
position, the upper end open, but the other end closed by one of the joints. 
With this closed end the performers kept constantly striking the ground, though 
slowly, thus producing different notes, according to the different lengths of the 
instruments, but all of them of the hollow or bass sort; to counteract which, a 
person kept striking quickly, and with two sticks, a piece of the same sub¬ 
stance, split, and laid along the ground, and, by that means, furnishing a tone 
as acute as those produced by the others were grave. The rest of the band, 
as well as those who performed on the bamboos, sung a low and soft air, which 
so tempered the harsher notes of the above instruments that no bystander, how¬ 
ever accustomed to hear the most varied and perfect modulation of sweet sounds, 
could avoid confessing the pleasing effect of this simple harmony. 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


477 



“ The concert having continued about a quarter of an hour, twenty women 
entered the circle. Most of them had upon their heads garlands of the crimson 
flowers of the China rose, or others; and many of them had . ornamented their 
persons with leaves of trees cut with a great deal of nicety about the edges. 
They made a circle round the choristers, turning their faces toward them and began 
by singing a soft air, to which responses were made by the choristers in the same 
tone ; and these were repeated alternately. All this while the women accompa¬ 
nied their song with several very graceful motions of their hands toward their 
faces, and in other directions at the same time, making constantly a step forward, 


DANCE of THE FLOWER girls. 

and then back again with one foot, while the other was fixed. They then turned 
their faces to the assembly, sung some time, and retreated slowly in a body to 
that part of the circle which was opposite the hut where the principal spectators sat. 
After this one of them advanced from each side meeting and passing each 
other in the front, and continuing their progress round till they came to the 
rest. On which two advanced from each side, two of whom also passed each 
other and returned as the former; but the other two remained, and to these 
came one from each side, by intervals, till the whole number had again formed 
a circle about the choristers. Their manner of dancing was now changed to a 
quicker measure, in which they made a kind of half turn by leaping, and 






478 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


clapped tlieir hands and snapped their fingers, repeating some words in conjunc¬ 
tion with the chorus. Towards the end, as the quickness of the music increased, 
their gestures and attitudes were varied with wonderful vigor and dexterity; and 
some of their motions would, perhaps, with us, be reckoned rather indecent; 
though this part of the performance, most probably, was not meant to convey any 
wanton ideas, but merely to display the astonishingly variety of their movements. 

“ To this grand female ballet succeeded one performed by fifteen men. Some 
of them were old; but their age seemed to have abated little of their agility or 
ardor for the dance. The)/- were disposed in a sort of circle, divided at the 
front, with their faces not turned out toward the assembly, nor inward to the 
chorus, but one-half of their circle faced forward as they had advanced, and the 
half in a contrary direction. They sometimes sung slowly in concert with the 
chorus ; and, while thus employed, they also made several very fine motions 
with their hands, but different from those made by the women, at the same time 
inclining the body to either side alternately by raising one leg, which was 
stretched outward and resting on the other; the arm of the same side being 
also stretched fully upward. At other times they recited sentences in a musical 
tone, which were answered by the chorus; and at intervals increased the measure 
of the dance by clapping the hands and quickening the motions of the feet, 
which, however, were never varied. At the end the rapidity of the music and of 
the dancing increased so much that it was scarcely possible to distinguish the 
different movements; though one might suppose the actors were now almost tired, 
as their performance had lasted nearly half an hour. 

THE FEMALE DANCERS PUNISHED. 

“After a considerable interval, another act, as we may call it, began. 
Twelve men now advanced, who placed themselves in double rows fronting each 
other, but on opposite sides of the circle; and, on one side a man was 
stationed, who, as if he had been a prompter, repeated several sentences, to 
which the twelve new performers, and the chorus, replied. They then sung 
slowly; and afterwards danced and sung more quickly, for about a quarter of 
an hour, after the manner of the dancers whom they'' had succeeded. Soon 
after they had finished, nine women exhibited themselves, and sat down front¬ 
ing the hut where the chief was. A man then rose, and struck the .first of 
these women on the back, with both fists joined. He proceeded, in the same 
manner, to the second and third; but when he came to the fourth, whether 
from accident or design I cannot tell, instead of the back, he struck her on 
the breast. Upon this, a person rose instantly from the crowd, who brought 
him to the ground with a blow on the head; and he was carried off without the 
least noise or disorder. But this did not save the other five women from so 
odd a discipline, or perhaps necessary ceremony; for a person succeeded him 
who treated them in the same manner. Their disgrace did not end here; for 
when they danced they had the mortification to find their performance twice 
disproved of, and were obliged to repeat it. This dance did not differ much 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


479 


from that of the first women, except in this one circumstance, that the present 
set sometimes raised the body upon one leg, by a sort of double motion, and 
then upon the other alternately, in which attitude they kept snapping their 
fingers; and, at the end, they repeated, with great agility, the brisk move¬ 
ments in which the former group of female dancers had shown themselves so 
expert. 

“In a little time, a person entered unexpectedly, and said something in a 
ludicrous way about the fire-works that had been exhibited, which extorted a 
burst of laughter from the multitude. After this, we had a dance composed 
of men who attended or had followed Feenou. They formed a double circle 
(i. e. one within another) of twenty-four each, round the choristers, and be¬ 
gan a gentle soothing song, with corresponding motions of the hands and head. 
This lasted a considerable time, and then changed to a much quicker measure, 
during which they repeated sentences, either in conjunction with the chorus, 
or in answer to some spoken by that band. They then retreated to the back 
part of the circle, as the women had done, and again advanced, on each side in a 
triple row, till they formed a semi-circle, which was done very slowly, by in¬ 
clining the body on one leg, and advancing the other a little way, as they put it 
down. They accompanied this with such a soft air as they had sung in the begin¬ 
ning ; but soon changed it to repeat sentences in a harsher tone, at the same 
time quickening the dance very much, till they finished it with a general 
shout and clap of the hands. The same was repeated several times; but at 
last they formed a double circle, as at the beginning, danced and repeated 
very quickly, and finally closed with several very dexterous transpositions of 
the two circles. 

“ The entertainments of this memorable night concluded with a dance, in 
which the principal people present exhibited. It resembled the immediately 
preceding one in some respects, having the same number of performers, who 
began nearly in the same way; but their ending at each interval was different. 
For they increased their motions to a prodigious quickness, shaking their heads 
from shoulder to shoulder with such force, that a spectator, unaccustomed to 
the sight, would suppose that they ran a risk of dislocating their necks. This 
was attended with a smart clapping of the hands, and a kind of savage hallo, 
or shriek, not unlike what is sometimes practised in the comic dances on our 
European theatres. They formed the triple semi-circle as the preceding dancers 
had done; and a person who advanced at the head on one side of the semi¬ 
circle, began by repeating something in a truly musical recitative, which was 
delivered with an air so graceful, as might put to the blush our most applauded 
performers. He was answered in the same manner by the person at the head 
of the opposite party. This being repeated several times, the whole body on 
one side joined in the responses to the whole corresponding body on the opposite 
side, as the semi-circle advanced to the front; and they finished by singing and 
dancing as they had begun. 


480 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


“ These two last dances were performed with so much spirit, and so great 
exactness, that the}' met with universal approbation. The native spectators, who 
no doubt were perfect judges whether the several performances were properly 
executed, could not withhold their applauses at some particular parts; and even 
a stranger who never saw the diversion before, felt similar satisfaction at the 
same instant. For though, through the whole, the most strict concert was ob¬ 
served, some of the gestures were so expressive, that it might be said they 
spoke the language that accompanied them, if we allow that there is any con¬ 
nection between motion and sound. At the same time it should be observed, 
that though the music of the chorus and that of the dancers corresponded, con¬ 
stant practice in these favorite amusements of our friends seems to have a great 
share in effecting the exact time they keep in their performances. For we ob¬ 
served that if any of them happened accidentally to be interrupted, they never 
found the smallest difficult}' in recovering the proper place of the dance or song. 
And their perfect discipline was in no instance more remarkable than in the 
sudden transitions they so dexterously made from the ruder exertions and harsh 
sounds, to the softest airs and gentlest movements.” 













' CHAPTER XLVII. 


RECEPTION BY KING POULAHO. 

EAR the Friendly and Hapaee groups are several 
hundred islands, and Cook spent more than one 
month passing from one to another, being every¬ 
where received with great cordiality by the inhabi¬ 
tants and helped to all manner of provisions that 
the islands produced. At Tongataboo, or Tonga, 
one of the most fertile and important in the Friendly 
Group, Cook made a landing, and was almost 
immediate^ visited by a king named Poulaho, by 
whom he was conducted to a small, but very neat 
house, admirably situated, which was kindty placed 
at his service during his stay. Soon after taking 
possession, Cook was visited by the King and a 
large number of his subjects, who took a position in 
the level, grass-covered area around it, while the King 
and his immediate attendants, among whom were several women, entered 
the house. Upon being seated, a root of the kava plant was brought 
in, and laid at the King’s feet, which, by his direction, was divided into several 
pieces and distributed among a number of both sexes, who immediately fell to 
chewing the bits and spitting the secretion into a bowl. In this manner it was 
that their favorite drink was prepared, quite palatable to the natives, but a 
gorge rose in the throat of Cook when he was offered a cup, made of plantain 
leaves, filled with this strange decoction. A baked hog and two baskets of 
yams were then divided into ten portions and distributed among the persons of 
rank, who, however, were not permitted to either eat or drink in the presence 
of the King. Although the feast was prepared as a special mark of favor to 
Cook, he could not bring himself to be a partaker, at which abstinence the 
King nevertheless took no offence, considering that he had acquitted himself of 
a duty to his white visitor. 

Two da3 y s later an entertainment was given in honor of Cook, which was 
attended by nearly 12,000 persons, and in which four parties of dancers, num¬ 
bering 96, 32, 32 and 60 respective^, with half as many more drummers and 
choristers, participated. The dancers consisted of several divisions in ranks, in 
which the men, carrying small paddles, performed a great variety of evolutions, 
keeping time to a low, dirge-like monotone. This dancing continued from 11 
p. m. until 3 o’clock in the morning, and the entertainment then concluded with 
wrestling and boxing matches. 







482 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


INITIATORY CEREMONIES OF ROYALTY. 

Ten days before Cook took his departure from these people, he witnessed 
by the King’s invitation, a solemn ceremony called Natche , which was the initi¬ 
ation of the King’s son into certain royal privileges, among others being that of 
eating with his father. On account of inability to freely talk with the natives, 
and Omai’s imperfect understanding of the language, Cook was not able to ac¬ 
quaint himself with the full signification of the ceremonies. A very large num¬ 
ber of people gathered in a wide area, in the middle of which a house had been 
set up to represent a morai , or temple. At the appointed time, some hundreds 
of subjects made their appearance, carrying poles to which short sticks, repre¬ 
senting yams, were tied, and began a quick march before the King and his son 



THE GRAND DANCE IN HONOR OF COOK. 


—who were seated on the ground to themselves—followed by a dozen spear 
bearers, and in the rear, an old man carrying a live pigeon. This procession passed 
twice around the King, and then proceeded to the morai, where they deposited their 
burdens. After this, the crowd rose and repaired to another part of the area, 
where they re-assembled before the King and Prince, who had likewise changed 
their positions. The men who had carried the poles were all of rank, and now 
made their obeisances and acknowledgments to their rulers, after which a prayer 
or oration was pronounced by one of the King’s counsellors or chief priests. This 
ceremony was followed by hundreds of subjects of both sexes paying honor to 
the King and Prince, by approaching and touching their heads to the ground, 
after which fourteen women of royal rank came in pairs, carrying between them a 


















UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


483 



narrow piece of white cloth, some eight feet in length, which they wrapped about 
the Prince. Following these, came two men bearing green branches, which they 
presented towards the Prince, and then bore away again. The ceremony was con¬ 
cluded by a man of rank breaking one of the poles that had been carried in the 
procession, and the pronouncement of what appeared to be a benediction. 

BURIAL ALIVE OF CRIMINALS. 

Fiji Islands are only two hundred miles from the Friendly Group, yet Cook 
had such report of the savagery of the people that he had small desire to pay them 
a visit. He was told, and the report was confirmed by other voyagers, that the 
Fijians were not only intensely hostile to every other people, but that they ex¬ 


ceeded the New Zealanders in their liking for human flesh; that they not only 
ate the bodies of their enemies slain in battle, but occasionally devoured their 
own dead. Their savagery extended yet further, for it was their custom to bury 
their criminals alive, after which the body was exhumed and eaten. 

The Fiji are a group of 250 islands, the northernmost of which were first 
discovered by Tasman in 1643. Turtle Island, one of the southernmost, was 
discovered by Cook in 1773, but it was not until Wilson’s visit to them in 
1797, that the customs of the people were positively determined. It is, there¬ 
fore, possible that the Tongans, who held little intercourse with the Fijians, 
gave them a worse reputation than they justly deserved; but what he thus 
heard prompted Cook to forego his first intention to visit them. 


CEREMONY OE PRINCELY INITIATION. 












484 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


It was not until July 15th (1777) that Cook left the Friendly Islands, and 
proceeded on to Otaheite, but on the 8th of August he came in sight of land, 
which the natives called Toobouai. Several canoes, filled with people, approached 
the ship, but though they spoke the Otaheite language and Omai tried hard 
to induce them to come on board, not one of the canoes would approach closer 
than the distance of a bow shot. They, in turn, besought Cook to land, but 
the anchorage was unsafe, and his anxiety to continue the voyage prompted 
him to lay off shore only a few hours. When the natives saw that it was 
Cook’s purpose to pass the island without stopping, one of the canoes in which 
were only two persons, came a little closer, while the man in the bow began 
blowing a conch-shell, repeating two or three notes which were not wholly 
unmusical. “ What the blowing of the conch portended, I cannot say,” writes 
Cook, “ but I never found it the messenger of peace.” In this connection, Mr. 
Ellis says: “ This instrument is used in war to stimulate action by the priests 

in the temple, and also by the herald and others on board their fleet. Its sound 
is more horrific than that of the drum. The largest shells (of a species of 
murex) are usually selected for the purpose, and are sometimes above a foot in 
length, and seven or eight inches in diameter at the mouth. I11 order to facili¬ 
tate the blowing of this trumpet, they make a perforation, about an inch in 
diameter, near the apex of the shell. Into this they insert a bamboo cane, about 
three feet in length, which is secured by binding it to the shell with fine braid; 
the aperture is rendered air-tight by cementing the outside of it with a resinous 
gum from the bread-fruit tree. These shells are blown when a procession walks 
to the temple, or the warriors march to battle, at the inauguration of the king, 
during the worship at the temple, or when a taboo , or restriction, is imposed in 
the name of the gods. The sound is extremely loud, and the most monotonous 
and dismal that it is possible to imagine.” 

MEETING OF OMAI AND HIS FRIENDS. 

On August 12th, the island of Maitea, one of the Society Group, was 
sighted, and directly after the shore of Otaheite came into view. Anchorage 
having been made, several canoes came off to the ship, when Cook was sur¬ 
prised to find that the natives took little notice of Omai, though they knew 
him to be one of their countrymen who had long been absent. They exhibited 
not the least curiosity to learn his experience while abroad, nor did their indif- 
erence change until he showed them the great quantity of curious things which 
he had brought back with him. At the sight of them, Ootee, a chief who 
knew Omai, manifested an immediate interest and offered his friendship, in ex¬ 
change for which Omai presented him with some red feathers. Upon going 
on shore on the following day, Cook was taken to a hut wherein lay the re¬ 
mains of a prominent chief named Waheiadooa, whom Cook had known, and who 
had died twenty months before. The hut, or house,- had been specially con¬ 
structed for the body of the chief, who was held in great veneration. Two men, 
in white robes, were in constant attendance, to dress and undress the dead 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


485 


chief, and to replenish supplies of provisions which the spirit was supposed to 
stand in need of. The body was in a half recumbent position, or what was 
believed by the natives to be a restful situation, and surrounded with bright 
clothes which imparted to the place the appearance of a shrine, which it was 
no doubt intended to be. 

On the following day Cook sailed for Matavai Bay, near by, and on landing 
there was cordially received by the natives, who also gave a joyous welcome to 
Omai. Nearly all the goats, hogs, cattle, and peacocks, which Cook had brought, 
were distributed among the chiefs, who received them with many expressions of 
gratitude, and in return, brought an enormous quantity of provisions, as a 
present to the crews of the two ships. 

OFFERING A HUMAN SACRIFICE. 

Cook had not been in Matavai Bay two days before he learned that the 
war between Otaheite and Eimeo, which was inaugurated at the time of his last 
departure from the island, had been continued at intervals, and that a council of 
chiefs was then called to consider the policy of prosecuting hostilities with 
greater vigor. Directly after receiving this news, Cook was invited to attend the 
meeting of the council, and he gladly accepted. The attendance consisted of 
about twenty chiefs, each of whom in his turn made a speech before King Otoo, 
some being in favor of, and others opposed to a continuance of the war, so that 
no decision seemed to have been arrived at during this meeting. On the fol¬ 
lowing day, Cook was invited to attend before the King, with Omai as interpreter. 
The old King was entirely deaf, and could only talk and receive responses by 
signs ; but he soon made known his intention of sending another naval force 
against Eimeo, and so far disregarded Cook’s remonstrances that he earnestly 
solicited his aid. Thus matters stood, with no active measures taken but a great 
deal of threatenings, until September ist, when a messenger arrived from a 
chief named Tettaha, a relative of the King, who was commander in-chief of the 
armament fitted out against Eimeo in 1774, bearing intelligence that he had 
killed a man to be sacrificed to Eotna , to obtain the assistance of that god 
against Eimeo. The sacrificial rites were to be presently performed at the great 
viorai in a neighboring district, and Cook sought and obtained permission of 
Otoo to witness the ceremony. 

When the time appointed arrived, Cook set off in a canoe, accompanied by 
a chief named Potatou, Mr. Anderson, Mr. Webber, and Omai, and in a few 
hours arrived at Attahooroo, the place where the sacrificial rites were to be 
performed. He found a numerous crowd assembled, and four priests and their 
several assistants seated at the morai , waiting his arrival. The body that was 
to be sacrificed lay in a canoe that had been landed, but was still in the wash 
of the sea. Cook thus describes the ceremonies which followed : “ One of the 
priest’s attendants brought a young plantain-tree and laid it down before Otoo. 
Another approached with a small tuft of red feathers, twisted on some fibres of 
the cocoa-nut husk, with which he touched one of the King’s feet, and then 


486 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


retired with it to his companions. One of the priests, seated at the moral, 
facing those who were upon the bench, now began a long prayer; and, at cer¬ 
tain times, sent down young plantain-trees, which were laid upon the sacrifice. 
During this prayer, a man who stood by the officiating priest held in his 
hands two bundles, seemingly of cloth. In one of them, as we afterwards 
found, was the royal maro; and the other, if I may be allowed the expression, 
was the ark of the Eotua. As soon as the prayer was ended, the priests at 
the moral, with their attendants, went and sat down by those upon the bench, 
carrying with them the two bundles. Here they renewed their prayers, during 
which the plantain-trees were taken, one by one, at different times, from off 
the sacrifice, which was partly wrapped up in cocoa leaves and small branches. 



A HUMAN SACRIFICE IN OTAHEITE. 


It was now taken out of the canoe and laid upon the beach, with the feet to 
the sea. The priests placed themselves around it, some sitting and some 
standing; and one or more of them repeated sentences for about ten minutes. 
The dead body was now uncovered by removing the leaves and branches, and 
laid in a parallel direction with the sea-shore. One of the priests then, stand¬ 
ing at the feet of it, pronounced a long prayer, in which he was at times 
joined by the others, each holding in his hand a tuft of red feathers. In the 
course of this prayer some hair was pulled off the head of the sacrifice, and 
the left eye taken out, both of which were presented to Otoo wrapped up in 
a green leaf. He did not, however, touch it, but gave to the man who pre¬ 
sented it the tuft of feathers which he had received from Towha; this, with 
the hair and eye, was carried back to the priests. Soon after Otoo sent to 












UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


487 


them another piece of feathers, which he had given me in the morning to 

keep in my pocket. During some part of this last ceremony a kingfisher 

making a noise in the trees, Otoo turned to me, saying, “ That is the Eotua ,” 
and seemed to look upon it as a good omen. 

“ The body was then carried a little way with its head toward the morai , 
and laid under a tree, near which were fixed three broad, thin pieces of wood, 
differently but rudely carved. The bundles of cloth were now laid on a part 
of the morai , and the tufts of red feathers were then placed at the feet of the 
sacrifice, round which the priests took their stations; and we were now allowed 
to go as near as we pleased. He who seemed to be the chief priest sat at a 
small distance, and spoke for a quarter of an hour, but with different tones 
and gestures, so that he appeared often to expostulate with the dead person, to 

whom he' constantly addressed himself; and sometimes asked several questions, 

seemingly with respect to the propriety of his having been killed. At other 
times he made several demands, as if the deceased either now had power him¬ 
self, or interest with the divinity, to engage him to comply with such requests. 
Amongst which, we understood, he asked him to deliver Eimeo its chief, 
the hogs, women, and other things of the island into their hands, which 
was, indeed, the express intention of the sacrifice. He then chanted a prayer 
which lasted half an hour, in a whining, melancholy tone, accompanied by 
two other priests, and in which Potatou and some others joined. In the 
course of this prayer some more hair was plucked by a priest from the head 
of the corpse, and put upon one of the bundles. After this the chief priest 
prayed alone, holding in his hand the feathers which came from Towha. When 
he had finished he gave them to another, who prayed in like manner. Then 
all the tufts of feathers were laid upon the bundles of cloth, which closed the 
ceremony at this place. 

GHASTLY CEREMONIES. 

“ The corpse was then carried up to the most conspicuous part of the 
morai , with the feathers, the two bundles of cloth, and the drums ; the last 
of which beat slowly. The feathers and bundles were laid against the pile of 
stones, and the corpse at the foot of them. The priests having again seated 
themselves round it, renewed their prayers, while some of the attendants dug 
a hole about two feet deep, into which they threw the unhappy victim, and 
covered it with earth and stones. While they were putting him into the grave, 
a boy squeaked aloud, and Omai said to me that it was the Eotua. During 
this time a fire having been made, the dog before mentioned was produced and 
killed, by twisting his neck and suffocating him. The hair was singed off, 
and the entrails taken out and thrown into the fire, where they were left to 
consume. But the heart, liver, and kidneys were only roasted by being laid 
on the stones for a few minutes ; and the body of the dog, after being be¬ 
smeared with the blood which had been collected in a cocoa-nut shell, and 
dried over the fire, was with the liver, etc., carried and laid down before the 


488 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


priests, who sat praying round the grave. They continued their ejaculations over 
the dog for some time, while two men, at intervals, beat on two drums very 
loud; and the boy screamed as before, in a loud shrill voice, three different 
times. This, as we were told, was to invite the Eotua to feast on the banquet 
that they had prepared for him. As soon as the priests had ended their 
prayers, the carcass of the dog, with what belonged to it, was laid on a 
whatta , or scaffold, about six feet high, that stood close by, on which lay the 
remains of two other dogs, and two pigs which had lately been sacrificed, and at 
this time emitted an intolerable stench. This kept us at a greater distance 
than would otherwise have been required of us ; for after the victim was re¬ 
moved from the sea-side toward the morai , we were allowed to approach as 
near as we pleased. Indeed, after that, neither seriousness nor attention was 
much observed by the spectators. When the dog was put upon the whatta , 
the priests and attendants gave a kind of shout, which closed the ceremonies 
for the present. The day being now also closed we were conducted to a 
house belonging to Potatou, where we were entertained and lodged for the 
night. We had been told that the religious rites were to be renewed in the morn¬ 
ing, and I would not leave the place \\£hile anything remained to be seen. 

“ Being unwilling to lose any part of the solemnity, some of us repaired 
to the scene of action pretty early, but found nothing going forward. However, 
soon after a pig was sacrificed, and laid upon the same whatta with the others. 
About eight o’clock, Otoo took us again to the morai , where the priests and a 
great number of men were by this time assembled. The two bundles occupied 
the place in which we had seen them deposited the preceding evening; the 
two drums stood in front of the morai , but somewhere nearer it than before, 
and the priests were bej^ond them. Otoo placed himself between the two drums, 
and desired me to stand by him. The ceremony began, as usual, with bringing 
a young plantain-tree, and laying it down at the King’s feet. After this, a prayer 
was repeated by the priests, who held in their hands several tufts of red feathers, 
and also a plume of ostrich feathers, which I had given to Otoo on my first 
arrival, and had been consecrated to this use. When the priests had made an 
end of the prayer, they changed their station, placing themselves between us and 
the morai , and one of them, the same person who had acted the principal part 
the day before, began another prayer, which lasted about half an hour. During 
the continuance of this, the tufts of feathers were, one by one, carried and laid 
upon the ark of the Eotua . 

CONSECRATION OF THE CORPSE. 

“ Some little time after, four pigs were produced, one of which was imme¬ 
diately killed, and the others were taken to a sty hard by, probably reserved 
for some future occasion of sacrifice. One of the bundles was now untied, and 
it was found, as I have before observed, to contain the maro, with which these 
people invest their kings, and which seems to answer, in some degree, to the 
European ensigns of royalty. It was carefully taken out of the cloth in which 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


489 


it had been wrapped up, and spread at full length upon the ground before the 
priests. It is a girdle about five yards long and fifteen inches broad, and from 
its name, seems to be put on in the same manner as is the common maro , or 
piece of cloth used by these people to wrap round the waist. It was ornamented 
with red and yellow feathers, but mostly the latter, taken from a dove found 
upon the island. The one end was bordered with eight pieces, each about the 
size and shape of a horse-shoe, having their edges fringed with black feathers. 
The other end was forked, and the points were of different lengths. The 
feathers were in square compartments, ranged in two rows, and otherwise so dis¬ 
posed as to produce a pleasing effect. They had been first pasted or fixed upon 
some of their own country cloth, and then sewed to the upper end of the pendant 
which Captain Wallis had displayed, and left flying ashore, the first time that 
he landed at Matavai. This was what they told us, and we had no reason to 
doubt it, as we could easily trace the remains of an English pendant. About six 
or eight inches square of the maro was unornamented, there being no feathers 
upon that space, except a few that had been sent by Waheadooa, as already 
mentioned. The priests made a long prayer relative to this part of the cere¬ 
mony ; and, if I mistook not, they called it the prayer of the maro. When it 
was finished, the badge of royalty was carefully folded up, put into the cloth, and 
deposited again upon the morai. 

“The other bundle, which I have distinguished by the name of the ark, 
was next opened at one end. But we were not allowed to go near enough to 
examine its mysterious contents. The information we received was that the 
Eotua , to whom they had been sacrificing and whose name is Ooro , was con¬ 
cealed in it, or rather what is supposed to represent him. This sacred reposi¬ 
tory is made of twisted fibres of the husk of the cocoa-nut, shaped something 
like a large fid or sugar-loaf, that is, roundish, with one end much thicker than 
the other. We had very often got small ones from different people, but never 
knew their use before. 

“ By this time the pig that had been killed was cleaned and the entrails 
taken out. These happened to have a considerable share of those convulsive 
motions which often appear in different parts after an animal is killed, and 
this was considered by the spectators as a very favorable omen to the expedi¬ 
tion, on account of which the sacrifices had been offered. After being exposed 
for some time, that those who chose might examine their appearances, the en¬ 
trails were carried to the priests and laid down before them. While one of 
their number prayed another inspected the entrails more narrowly and kept 
turning them gently with a stick. When they had been sufficiently examined 
they were thrown into the fire and left to consume. The sacrificed pig, and its 
liver, etc., were now put upon the whatta , where the dog had been deposited the 
day before; and then all the feathers except the ostrich-plume were enclosed 
with the Eotua in the ark, and the solemnity finally closed. 


490 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


PROCURING THE SACRIFICES. 

“ Four double canoes lay upon the beach before the place of sacrifice all 
the. morning. On the forepart of each of these was*fixed a small platform 
covered with palm leaves tied in mysterious knots; and this also is called a 
morai. Some cocoa-nuts, plantains, pieces of bread-fruit, fish and other things 
lay upon each of these naval morais. We were told that they belonged to the 
Eotua , and that they were to attend the fleet designed to go against Eimeo. 
The unhappy victim offered to the object of their worship upon this occasion 
seemed to be a middle-aged man, and as we were told was a tow tow , that is, 
one of the lowest class of the people. But after all my inquiries I could not 
learn that he had been pitched upon on account of any particular crime com¬ 
mitted by him meriting death. It is certain, however, that they generally make 
choice of such guilty persons for their sacrifice, or else of some common low 
fellows who stroll about from place to place and from island to island, without 
having any fixed abode or any visible way of getting an honest livelihood, of 
which description of men enough are to be met with at these islands. Having 
had an opportunity of examining the appearance of the body of the poor suf¬ 
ferer now offered up, I could observe that it was bloody about the head and 
face and a good deal bruised upon the right temple, which marked the manner 
of his being killed. And we were told that he had been privately knocked on 
the head with a stone. 

“ Those who are devoted to suffer, in order to perform this bloody act of 
worship, are never apprised of their fate till the blow is given that puts an 
end to their existence. Whenever any one of the great chiefs thinks a human 
sacrifice necessary on any particular emergency, he pitches upon the victim. 
Some of his trusty servants are then sent, who fall upon him suddenly, and 
put him to death with a club, or by stoning him. The King is next ac¬ 
quainted with it, whose presence at the solemn rites that follow is, as I was 
told, absolutely necessary; and, indeed, on the present occasion, we could 
observe that Otoo bore a principal part. The solemnity itself is called Poore 
Eree , or chiefs prayer; and the victim who is offered up is Taata-taboo ) or con¬ 
secrated man. This is the only instance where we have heard the word taboo 
used at this island, where it seems to have the same mysterious signification 
as at Tonga, though it is there applied to all cases where things are not to 
be touched. But at Otaheite the word raa serves the same purpose, and is fully 
as extensive in its meaning. 


THE SACRED DEAD HOUSE. 

“ The morai (which, undoubtedly, is a place of worship, sacrifice and burial 
at the same time), where the sacrifice was now offered, was the place where 
the supreme chief of the whole island is always buried, and is appropriated to 
his family and some of the principal people. It differs little from the common 
ones, except in extent. Its principal part is a large oblong pile of stones, 
lying loosely upon each other, about twelve or fourteen feet high, contracted 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


491 


towards the top, with a square area on each side loosely paved with pebble 
stones, under which the bones of the chiefs are buried. At a little distance 
from the end nearest the sea is the place where the sacrifices are offered, which, 
for a considerable extent, is also loosely paved. There is here a very large 
scaffold or whatta , on which the offerings of fruits and other vegetables are 
laid. But the animals are deposited on a smaller one already mentioned, and 
the human sacrifices are buried under different parts of the pavement. There 
are several other relics which ignorant superstition had scattered about this 
place, such as small stones raised in different parts of the pavement, some with 
bits of cloth tied round them, others covered with it; and upon the side of the 
large pile which fronts the area are placed a great many pieces of carved 
wood, which are supposed to be sometimes the residence of their divinities, and 
consequently held sacred. But one place, more particularly than the rest, is a 
heap of stones at one end of a large whatta , before which the sacrifice was 
offered, with a kind of platform at one side. On this are laid the skulls of all 
the human sacrifices, which are taken up after they have been several months 
under ground. Just above them are placed a great number of the pieces of 
wood; and it was also here where the maro , and the other bundle supposed to 
contain the god Ooro (place of the ark), were laid during the ceremony—a 
circumstance which denotes its agreement with the altar of other nations. 

“ It is much to be regretted that a practice so horrid in its own nature, 
and so destructive of that inviolable right of self-preservation which everyone 
is born with, should be found still existing; and (such is the power of supersti¬ 
tion to counteract the first principles of humanity) existing too among a people 
who in many other respects are emerged from the brutal manners of savage life. 
What is still worse, it is probable that these bloody rites of worship are prevalent 
throughout all the wide-extended islands of the Pacific Ocean. The similarity 
of customs and language, which our late voyages have enabled us to trace be¬ 
tween the most distant of these islands, makes it not unlikely that some of the 
most important articles of their religious institutions should agree. And, indeed, 
we hawe the most authentic information that human sacrifices continue to be 
offered at the Friendly Islands. When I described the Natche at Tonge-taboo , 
I mentioned that, on the approaching sequel of that festival, we had been told 
that ten men were to be sacrificed. This may give us an idea of the extent of 
this religious massacre in that island. And though we should suppose that 
never more than one person is sacrificed on any single occasion at Otaheite, it 
is more than probable that these occasions happen so frequently as to make a 
shocking waste of the human race; for I counted no less than forty-nine skulls 
of former victims lying before the morai, where we saw one more added to the 
number. And as none of those skulls had as yet suffered any considerable 
change from the weather, it may hence be inferred, that no great length of time 
had elapsed since, at least, this considerable number of unhappy wretches had 
been offered upon this altar of blood.” 


492 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


Cook might have observed that the nature of Pacific islanders—or of all the 
world, for that matter—appears to be more savage, not as they approach the equa¬ 
tor, but as they are found nearer to the Antarctic circle. Readers of this book 
cannot fail to notice a striking difference in the brutal instincts of the peoples 
living south of the equator, and to observe that reports of all voyagers to lands 
north of that line confirm the opinion that human nature exhibits more merciful 
traits in the northern latitudes than in the equatorial or southern; and this is 
true of the civilized as well as of the barbaric, though the most accomplished 
ethnologist or psychologist is at a loss for a reason to explain why it should be so. 



Westward and south 
of Otaheite there were 
formerly to be seen 
among the islanders 
customs of the most re¬ 
volting barbarity. Nor 
has the influence of mis¬ 
sionaries, powerful as 
it is, been able as yet 
to totally suppress the 
incredible savagery of 
people. The Fijians have 
s been distinguished for 
their astounding cruelties, and in one respect their depravity exceeds that of all 
their neighbors. Thus, while many are cannibals, to these horrible practices the 
Fijians added that of burying their victims alive and afterwards resurrecting an<? 
devouring the corpses, none of which customs ever obtained among islanders nortf 
of the equator. 


FIJIANS BURYING A PRISONER AEIVE. 


alway 




























CHAPTER XLVIII. 



A DANCE OF THE KING’S FOUR SISTERS. 

PON returning from the ceremonies above de¬ 
scribed, Cook repaired to his ship; but on 
the following day returned to the shore, and in 
the evening was entertained by the King, who 
introduced his four sisters, who performed a' 
dance called the heeva for his amusement. 
The dress of the dancers was like that al¬ 
ready described, consisting of a loose robe, 
bodice, and a gathering of flounced cloth at 
the back in fanciful resemblance of wings. 
On their heads the}'- wore little caps decorated 
with stars, and the breast was covered with 
feathers. Their movements were graceful, though 
timed by a drum beaten by an old man. Two of the 
women would advance together, followed by two men 
who performed many comical antics, and who, indeed, seemed to monopolize 
the attention of the audience; but at the conclusion of the dance, Cook indi¬ 
cated his appreciation by making some presents to the women. 

A few days after, a battle occurred between the navies of Otaheite and 
Eimeo, in which the latter were defeated, though only three men were killed, 
whose bodies were sacrificed to Eotua , after the same manner as just before 
described. Cook then visited Eimeo, peace having been concluded, and after a 
short stay’ on that island, went to Huaheine, where he built a house and set up 
Omai in the most comfortable manner and with agreeable surroundings. One of 
the peculiar habits observed by Cook to characterize Eimeo was the indul¬ 
gences of such indolence that his wives actually fed him as he lay prone upon 
the ground in apparent helplessness like an infant; but upon enquiry it was 
ascertained that Eimeo considered it below the dignity of royalty to administer 
to any corporal need which a servant or wife might relieve. 

Cook took his departure from the Society Islands December 19th, and on 
the 24th discovered Christmas Island, where a stay of a week was made and 
spent in fishing, catching turtles and observing a partial eclipse of the sun. 

DISCOVERY OF THE SANDWICH ISLANDS. 

On Januar\ r 2d, Cook weighed anchor, and proceeding northward, on the 
i$th he discovered a considerable body of land, and upon nearing shore he was 

( 493 ) 















494 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 



visited by several canoes laden with men. They approached without signs of 
fear, and to Cook’s surprise and pleasure, he found that their language was the 
same as that spoken by the Otaheitans. He soon discovered that the island which 
he had thus happened upon was one of a considerable group, which, in honor of 
his patron, the Earl of Sandwich, he named the Sandwich Islands. 

Making a considerable stay at these islands, Cook was enabled to familiarize 
himself with the habits and peculiarities of the natives, who appeared at all times 
peaceably disposed. In many 
respects, he found them to re¬ 
semble the Otaheitans, though 
scarcely so comely of person. 

>Neither were they so intelli¬ 
gent, though far surpassing the 
Otaheitans in the construction 
and handling of canoes. But 
their most striking characteristic 
was displayed in their aquatic 
habits, being apparently as nat¬ 
ural in the sea as on land, and 
in this respect resembling seals 
more than human beings. Says 
Cook: “ They are vigorous, 

active, and most expert swim¬ 
mers ; leaving their canoes upon 
the most trifling occasion; div¬ 
ing under them, and swimming 
to others though at a great dis¬ 
tance. It was very common to see 
women with infants at the breast, 
when the surf was so high that 
they could not land in the ca¬ 
noes, leap overboard, and without 
endangering their little ones, 
swim to the shore, through a 
sea that looked dreadful.” To 
which may be added, that they EIMEO BEING FED BY his wives. 

disport themselves in the wildest surfs, and count it as nothing for even the 
smallest children to venture far from shore with no other precaution than a 
small board. 

The people lived in more comfortable and pretentious huts than any other 
islanders whom Cook had met with, and though hardly more delicate in their 
manners, took greater pains to conceal their nakedness; nor did they mutilate 
their ears and noses as do most of the Pacific islanders. Like the people of 









UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


495 


Otaheite, the Sandwich natives make cloth from the bark of a tree, but possess 
an art of coloring it much more perfectly and pleasing than those of other 
islands. Their weapons were spears, knives of hard wood, bows and arrows, 
slings, and hatchets of stone. But a few pieces of hoop iron were found among 
them, which they must have purchased from other islanders or taken from the 
wrecks of ships blown to their shores, as Cook was certainly the first white man 
to visit them. Their canoes, often thirty feet in length, were both double and 
single, and the larger were provided with latteen or triangular sails, stretched 
on a long yard; but their propulsion was principally by paddles. 



SANDWICH ISLANDERS SURF-BATHING. 


On the 5th of February (1778) Cook took his leave of the Sandwich 
Islands, and steered northward in quest of the passage which he set out' to 
discover. 

A VISIT TO THE PEOPLE OF NOOTKA SOUND. 

On the 6th of March, he discovered the shore of North America, then 
known as New Albion, along which he coasted, in a stress of bad weather, with 
slow progress until the 29th, when he came in sight of the territory of British 
America. Here he came to anchor in a cove which he called Hope Bay, in 
the vicinity of Vancouver Island, and directly after saw a dozen natives on the 
shore, one of whom, probably a chief, began to harangue the white visitors in a 









496 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


very loud voice, at the same time shaking a rattle and strewing feathers towards 
them. Finding their invitations to land treated with indifference, the natives 
soon multiplied, aud from the shore shot out thirty-two canoes which directly 
surrounded the ships. 

The next morning, Cook moved his ship into a more favorable harbor, 
which he called Nootka Sound, and then went on shore to visit the natives, 
who were peaceable and anxious to trade anything which they possessed for 
scraps of iron. The articles which they offered were skins of foxes, deer, 
coons, martens, polecats, sea-otters, bows, arrows, spears, wooden visors of 



MASKED ROWERS OF SANDWICH ISLANDS. 


hideous features, and clothing made of skins and also from a plant resem¬ 
bling hemp. But in addition to these articles, the people brought also skulls, 
and human hands from which the flesh was not yet .stripped, which served 
to convince Cook that the natives were cannibals, at least addicted to the hor¬ 
rible practice of eating the bodies of their enemies. 

As the exchange was conducted to the great satisfaction of both parties, 
the natives continued to increase in numbers until, on the third day, there 
were not less than 500 canoes, each containing from five to twenty persons, around 
the ships. Many of the people wore hideous masks and continuously shook a 
small rattle, which was afterwards ascertained to be the insignia of the priests. 












UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


497 



A VISIT TO A NOOTKA VILLAGE. 

Cook remained in Nootka Sound for several weeks, but it was not until 
April 19th that the weather moderated so as to permit him to leave his ships 
for any length of time. On this date he paid a visit to some of the Indian 
villages, the first of which he thus describes: “ The people of this village 

were numerous, and to the most of whom I was now well known, received me 
very courteously, every one pressing me to go into his house, or rather his 
apaftment, for several families live under the same roof. I did not decline the 
invitation; and my hospitable friends whom I visited spread a mat for me to 
sit upon, and showed me every other mark of civility. In most of the houses 


BARK CLOTH WEAVING IN NEW ZEALAND. 

were women at work making dresses of the plant or bark before mentioned, 
which they executed exactly in the same manner that the New Zealanders 
manufacture their cloth. Others were occupied in opening sardines. I had 
seen a large quantity of them brought on shore from canoes, and divided by 
measure amongst several people, who carried them up to their houses, where 
the operation of curing them by smoke-drying is performed. They hang them on 
small rods, at first about a foot from the fire; afterwards they remove them higher 
and higher to make room for others, till the rods on which the fish hang reach 
the top of the house. When they are completely dried, they are taken down 
and packed closely in bales, which they cover with mats. Thus they are kept 
32 










498 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


till wanted; and they are not a disagreeable article of food. Cod, and other 
large fish, are also cured in the same manner by them; though they sometimes 
dry these in the open air, without fire.” 

INCONCEIVABLE FILTH AND DEGRADATION. 

The houses of these people are very rude affairs, little designed for com¬ 
fort, the frame-work being poles, on which are set upright and laid on loose 
boards which scarcely exclude the rain, but freely permit the escape of smoke. 
But to their rudeness is added inconceivable filth, for not only cooking but the 
cleaning of fish is done in their dwellings, and all refuse matter is cast into a 
pile generally near the centre, where it remains to exhale its noisome odors, 
until grown so large in size that its removal is necessary to give room for the 



INTERIOR OF A NOOTKA HUT. 


free movements of the occupants of the house. But in every respect the natives 
are inconceivably filthy, greasing their bodies with train-oil and ochre, and 
hideously bedaubing their faces with paint. Their garments of skins or hemp- 
cloth are rarely changed, and become so begrimed as to appear exceedingly stiff 
and uncomfortable. Many of them wear masks a greater part of the time, and 
as many more cover the head with grass, boards, and feathers wrought into the 
shape of a canoe bow, and painted to increase the resemblance. Others yet adopt 
disguises no less grotesque, and for no other reason apparently than to render 
the appearance hideous. In most of the dwellings are sleeping benches, at the 
head of which is generally an idol made from the trunk of a tree and carved to 
represent a human face, and to which devotions are made. 

















UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


499 


AMONG THE ESQUIMAUX, AND DEATH OF MR. ANDERSON. 

Cook departed from Nootka Sound, April 26th, and continued northward, 
passing many islands, but without stopping until he was forced into harbor by 
bad weather and dense -fogs at Cape Hinchinbroke. He made a short stay here 
to repair a leak in his ship and look after some damaged rigging of the Discovery. 
Some Esquimaux came off to the ships, .but though Cook remained in Snug 
Corner Bay until May 17th, the natives could not be induced to engage in any 
considerable exchange. Sailing again, the next stop was made in Prince William 
Sound, where Cook was visited by many natives of Oonalaska, whose appearance 
somewhat resembled the people met with at Nootka Sound. Their canoes, how¬ 
ever, were very different. Their large boats were not so dissimilar, but they were 
comparatively rare, and generally managed by women, so that they became to be 
known as “ women’s boats.” Their more numerous canoes were made of skins 
and were only large enough to accommodate one or two men. These boats were 
called kyaks , and were so made that the body of the rower sat in a small hole 
in which his waist fitted almost perfectly tight, so that the waves might freely 
wash over the boats without any water entering. 

Leaving Prince William Sound, the expedition continued northward until a 
large stream of water was found, which Cook believed to afford the passage he 
had come to seek, but which proved to be a large river. To this stream he 
gave the name of Cook River, but which is now known as the Yukon. Return¬ 
ing out of the river, Cook proceeded northward until arrested by the Aleutian 
Archipelago, which compelled him to steer directly westward for some time. 
On August 30th (1778), Mr. Anderson, surgeon of the Resolution, expired, 
having lingered for a twelvemonth with consumption. On the day of his death 
a considerable island was discovered, to which the name of Anderson was given, 
in his honor, and on which a landing was made and his body buried with ap¬ 
propriate ceremonies befitting his rank and the exalted esteem in which he was 
held by his comrades. 

AMONG THE SEA-HORSES. 

After doubling the Aleutian Islands, Cook steered. north again, and so con¬ 
tinued until he reached 70 degrees north latitude, when his course was arrested 
by vast fields of ice, on which he perceived great numbers of sea-horses, or 
walruses, many of which the crew killed, and their flesh, though not generally 
esteemed, Cook declares was very savory. 

Being unable to push his way further north at that season, Cook crossed 
Behring Sea to Kamtchatka, where he came into contact with the Tschutski 
and Kamtchatka people, who received him hospitably, and with whom he re¬ 
mained until September 17th, when the season being too far advanced to per¬ 
mit of passage through Behring Strait, he concluded to turn southward again 
and pass the winter at the Sandwich Islands, with the intention of renewing his 
search for the north-west passage in the following summer. On the way, how¬ 
ever, circumstances compelled him to put into Oonalaska, where he spent some 










(5oo) 


BURIAL OF SURGEON ANDERSON 














































UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


501 


time with the natives, and some Russians who were there for their government, 
developing the seal fisheries. It was not until November 26th, that departure 
was made from Ooualaska for the Sandwich Islands, at which he arrived 
January 16th following, and anchored in Karakakooa Bay, which is on the west 
side of Owhyhee Island. Here the ships were directly crowded with natives, 
whose canoes were so numerous that they lay about the vessels, side by side, a 
hundred deep. Besides those who came off in canoes, thousands stood on the 

shore looking wistfully, and 
hundreds swam around the ships 
like shoals of fish. 

COOK IS MADE A GOD. 

The .crowd became at length 
so great that there was danger 
of capsizing the ships, which, 
however, was averted by a chief 
named Kaneena, who, at Cook’s 
request, drove the natives from 
the ship, and pitched one loiter¬ 
ing man headlong into the sea. 
Though the number of visitors 
was almost incalculably great, 
yet to Cook’s surprise no at¬ 
tempt at pilfering was made, 
which fact seemed to prove the 
natives to be more honorable 
than any that Cook had met 
with on other islands. 

After the chiefs, Kaneena 
and Pareea, had somewhat sub¬ 
dued the exceedingly great curi¬ 
osity of the islanders, a third 
chief named Koah, who com¬ 
bined with his office that of 
priest, came on board and made 
an offering of a small pig to his 
god, after which he invested Cook 
with a piece of red cloth, the same which is used to clothe their idols. He was 
now made one of their titular deities, and when he directly afterwards went on 
shore, he was received by four men bearing wands tipped with dog s hair, who went 
before him crying Orono , whereupon the crowds quickly disappeared or fell pros¬ 
trate on their faces. Mr. Ellis describes the circumstances leading to the crea¬ 
tion of the god Orono as follows: “Among the kings who governed Hawaii, or an 
extensive district in the island, during what may in its chronology be called the 



KILLING SEA-HORSES AMONG THE ICEBERGS. 











602 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 



fabulous age, was Rono, or Orono , who on some account became offended with 
his wife and murdered her; but afterwards lamented the act so much as to induce 
a state of mental derangement. In this condition he travelled through all the 
islands, boxing and wrestling with every one he met. He subsequently set 
sail in a singularly-shaped canoe for Tahiti (Otaheite), or a foreign country. 
After his departure he was deified by his countrymen, and annual games of 
boxing and wrestling were instituted in his honor. As soon as Captain Cook 
arrived, it was supposed and reported that the god Rono was returned; the 
priests clothed him with the sacred cloth worn only by the god, conducted him 
to their temples, sacrificed animals to propitiate his favor, and hence the people 
prostrated themselves before him as he walked through the village. 


But the adoration paid to Captain Cook was only begun by the ceremony 
just described. He was conducted by Koah to the morai situated on the south 
side of the beach, and which consisted of a solid pile of stone, forty yards long, 
twenty broad, and fourteen in height. The top was flat and well paved, and 
surrounded by a wooden rail on which was fixed a large number of skulls of 
captives sacrificed on the death of Sandwich Island chiefs. On the top of this 
platform was a scaffold, supported by five poles; on this were two small houses 
with a covered communication. Cook was taken first to the summit of the plat¬ 
form and presented to two images made of wood and having the most repulsive 
features. He was then conducted to the base of the scaffold, where there were 
twelve other idols arranged in a semi-circle on a table, in front of which lay the 
remains of a hog in an advanced stage of decay, which were taken up and held 


COOK IN THE HARBOR OF KARAKAKOOA BAY. 








UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


503 



out towards Cook. With Koah still leading, Cook then mounted to the top of 
the scaffold, where he was again invested with a fold of red cloth. They then 
descended and entered a depression in the platform, where Cook was presented 
to two more idols, after which, baked hogs, cocoa-nuts, and bananas were brought 
and a feast prepared, in which the brewing and drinking of kava was no small 
part. This ended the ceremonies, and by them Cook had been elevated to a god. 

Being one of the deities, it was now no trouble for Cook to command the 
people and exact obedience; so he ordered the ships beached in order to make 
some necessary repairs, and an observatory was set up, while the priests gave 
him assistance and kept him provided with what was really a superabundance 
of provisions. 


KING terreeoboo on his way to visit cook. 

THE DEMEANOR OF THE NATIVES CHANGED. 

Everything was pleasant for Cook until the 24th, on which date none of 
the islanders came near the ships, giving as their excuse that the place was 
tabooed , and all intercourse interdicted on account of the arrival of the King, 
Terreeoboo, who was about to visit the ships. “The next day,” says Cook, 
“about noon, the King, in a large canoe, attended by two others, set out from 
the village and paddled towards the ships in great state. Their appearance was 
grand and magnificent. In the first canoe was Terreeoboo and his chiefs, 
dressed in their rich feathered cloaks and helmets, and armed with long spears 
and daggers; in the second came the venerable Kaoo, the chief of the priests, 
and his brethren with their idols displayed on red cloth. These idols were busts 
of a gigantic size, made of wicker-work, and curiously covered with small feathers 
of various colors, wrought in the same manner with their cloaks. Their eyes 











504 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


were made of large pearl oysters, with a black nut fixed in the centre; their 
mouths were set with a double row of fangs of dogs, and together with the rest 
of their features were strangely distorted. The third canoe was filled with hogs 
and various kinds of vegetables. As they went along, the priests in the centre 
canoe sung their hymns with great solemnity; and, after paddling round the 
ships, instead of going on board, as was expected, they made toward the shore 
at the beach where we were stationed.” 

Cook received the King with a salute, and then accompanied him on shore 
to the royal tent, where, after first being seated the King arose and taking off 
his own cloak threw it over the shoulders of Cook, and hen placed a feathered 
helmet on his head and a curious fan in his hand, the ceremony concluding 
with an exchange of names, which, among all the Pacific Islanders, is the 
strongest pledge of friendship. 

The adoration and hospitality of the natives so effectually disarmed Cook 
and his men of all fears that the crews went about freely among the people 
who seemed never to tire of showing them kindnesses. But all this familiarity 
resulted to the disadvantage of the explorers, for after a time the natives began 
to systematically plunder their visitors, and carried their thefts so far as to 
endanger the further success of the expedition. To stop their thieving Cook 
was at length compelled to resort to harsh means, and an example was made 
by flogging one of the natives on the decks of the Discovery. 

The harbor of Karakakooa was by no means a safe one, and Cook decided 
to leave there and find, if possible, a more secure shelter, which fact becoming 
known to the King, he made a large present of hogs and provisions to his 
white visitors, but appeared to be glad that his duties of entertaining them 
were at end. Accordingly Cook weighed his anchor and stood out of the bay just 
as a terrific gale came on, so sudden that several natives on board the ship at 
the time found it safer for them to remain than to attempt to return to shore 
in canoes. But after sailing around the islands from the 4th to the 10th of 
February, 1779, without finding any better anchorage Cook was forced to re¬ 
turn to Karakakooa, but on putting into the bay again he was astonished to 
find the natives very different in their demeanor from that previously ex¬ 
hibited, though the priests continued to show their former kindnesses. 










CHAPTER XLIX. 

FIRST CONFLICT WITH THE SANDWICH ISLANDERS. 


people no longer betrayed any curiosity, 
nor did they return to the ships to renew 
their protestations of friendship or to trade. 
Things began to look suspicious, though 
there was no interference of any kind until 
the evening of the 13th, when a party be¬ 
ing sent on shore for a supply of fresh 
water, they soon returned with the report 
that the islanders were growing tumultuous 
and arming themselves with stones. The 
mob of natives was soon dispersed, however, 
but not without evidence of a concerted hos¬ 
tile movement. To meet any attempt of a 
warlike character, the marines were sent on 
shore with loaded muskets, and Cook went 
himself in the pinnace, hoping that his pres¬ 
ence would prevent any uprising. At the 
same time, there was heard musket firing, which proved to be from the crew 
of the Discovery, who were shooting at a canoe in which were several natives 
who, Cook supposed, had stolen something from the ship, and he set out in 
pursuit of them; but they escaped. Another affair, growing out of the same 
circumstances, led to the knocking down of Pareea, one of the chiefs, who 
was struck on the head by one of the seamen with an oar, whereupon the na¬ 
tives attacked the marines with a shower of stones and with such fury that 
the crew were driven into the sea, and forced to swim to a rock near by. 

The attack was not followed up, however, but the feeling of uneasiness con¬ 
tinued to increase. The next morning the cutter belonging to the Resolution 
was missed, having been stolen during the night, and to recover this Cook 
armed nine of his marines, and taking a musket himself, went ashore in the 
pinnace, first giving orders to capture every canoe possible, and to seize upon 
and hold as hostages any priests or chiefs that might be arrested. The events 
which followed are thus described b)^ Captain King, who succeeded to the com¬ 
mand of the Resolution after Cook’s death : 

THE KILLING OF CAPTAIN COOK. 

“ In the meantime, Captain Cook having called off the launch, which was 
stationed at the north point of the bay, and taken it along with him, he proceeded 
to Kowrowa and landed with the lieutenant and nine marines. He immediately 

(505) 


B 










506 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


marched into the village, where he was received with the usual marks of respect: 
the people prostrating themselves before him, and bringing their accustomed 
offerings of small hogs. Finding that there was no suspicion of his design, 
his next step was to inquire for Terreeoboo and the two boys, his sons, who 
had been his constant guests on board the Resolution. In a short time the 
boys returned along with the natives who had been sent in search of them, and 
immediately led Captain Cook to the house where the King had slept. They 
found the old man just awoke from sleep, and after a short conversation 
about the loss of the cutter, from which Captain Cook was convinced that he 
was in no wise privy to it, he invited him to return in the boat, and spend the 
day on board the Resolution. To this proposal the King readily consented, 
and immediately got up to accompany him. 

“Things were in this prosperous train, the two boys being already in the 
pinnace, and the rest of the party having advanced near the water-side, when 
an elderly woman called Kaneekabareea, the mother of the boys, and one of 
the King’s favorite wives, came after him, and, with many tears and entreaties, 
besought him not to go on board. At the same time, two chiefs who came 
along with her laid hold of him, and insisting that he should go no farther, 
forced him to sit down. The natives who were collecting in prodigious numbers 
along the shore, and had probably been alarmed by the firing of the great guns 
and the appearances of hostility in the bay, began to throng round Captain 
Cook and their King. In this situation, the lieutenant of marines observing 
that his men were huddled together in the crowd, and thus incapable of using 
their arms, if any occasion should require it, proposed to the captaiu to draw 
them up along the rocks close to the water’s edge ; and the crowd readily making 
way for them to pass, they were drawn up in a line at the distance of about 
thirty yards from the place where the King was sitting. All this time the old 
King remained on the ground, with the strongest marks of terror and dejection 
in his countenance; Captain Cook, not willing to abandon the object for which 
he had come on shore, continued to urge him in the most pressing manner to 
proceed; whilst, on the other hand, whenever the King appeared inclined to 
follow him, the chiefs who stood round him interposed at first with prayers and 
entreaties, but afterward, having recourse to force and violence, insisted on his 
staying where he was. Captain Cook therefore, finding that the alarm had spread 
too generally, and that it was in vain to think any longer of getting him off 
without bloodshed, at last gave up the point; observing to Mr. Phillips that it 
would be impossible to compel him to go on board, without the risk of killing 
a great number of the inhabitants. 

“Though the enterprise which had carried Captain Cook on shore had now 
failed, and was abandoned, yet his person did not appear to be in the least 
danger till an accident happened, which gave a fatal turn to the affair. The 
boats which had been stationed across the bay, having fired at some canoes that 
were attempting to get out, unfortunately had killed a chief of the first rank. 


THE KILTING OF CAPTAIN COOK 




















































































































































































































































































































































508 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


The news of his death arrived at the village where Captain Cook was, just as 
he had left the King and was walking slowly towards the shore. The ferment 
it occasioned was very conspicuous; the women and children were immediate^ 
sent off, and the men put on their war-mats and armed themselves with spears 
and stones. One of the natives, having in his hands a stone and a long iron 
spike (which they called a pahooa ), came up to the Captain flourishing his 
weapon by way of defiance, and threatening to throw the stone. The Captain 
desired him to desist; but the man persisting in his insolence, he was at length 
provoked to fire a load of small shot. The man having his mat on, which the 
shot were not able to penetrate, this had no other effect than to irritate and 
encourage them. Several stones were thrown at the marines, and one of the 
Erees attempted to stab Mr. Phillips with his pahooa , but failed in the effort 
and received from him a blow from the butt end of his musket. Captain Cook 
now fired his second barrel, loaded with ball, and killed one of the foremost of 
the natives. A general attack with stones immediately followed, which was 
answered by a discharge of musketry from the marines and the people in the 
boats. The islanders, contrary to the expectations of every one, stood the fire 
with great firmness, and before the marines had time to reload they broke in 
upon them with dreadful shouts and yells. What followed was a scene of the 
utmost horror and confusion. 

“ Four of the marines were cut off amongst the rocks in their retreat, and 
fell a sacrifice to the fury of the enemy; three more were dangerously wounded, 
and the lieutenant, who had received a stab between the shoulders with a pahooa , 
having fortunately reserved his fire, shot the man who had wounded him just 
as he was going to repeat his blow. Our unfortunate commander, the last time 
he was seen distinctly, was standing at the water’s edge, and calling out to .the 
boats to cease firing, and to pull in. If it be true, as some of those who were 
present have imagined, that the marines and boatmen had fired without his 
orders, and that he was desirous of preventing any further bloodshed, it is not 
improbable that his humanity, on this occasion, proved fatal to him ; for it was 
remarked, that whilst he faced the natives, none of them had offered him any 
violence, but that having tprned about to give his orders to the boats, he was 
stabbed in the back, and fell with his face in the water. On seeing him fall, 
the islanders set up a great shout, and his body was immediately dragged on 
shore and surrounded by the enemy, who, snatching the daggers out of each 
other’s hands, showed a savage eagerness to have a share in his destruction.” 

The marines having been killed or beaten off, the body of Captain Cook 
fell into the hands of the natives, who at once cut it up, and, after offering it 
great indignities, burnt a considerable part. On the night following, two friendly 
islanders came out to the ship, bearing with them about nine pounds weight 
of flesh, that proved to have been a part of the body, and which they had 
brought to the ship as a proof of their friendship and sincere regret for 
the tragedy. Soon after, the surviving marines of both ships made a resolute 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


509 



attack on the natives, killing a large number, and burning one of their villages, 
which ravages they declared that they would continue until the bodies of Cook 
and those that had fallen by the hands of the islanders were surrendered up. 
This threat not having the immediate effect of bringing the natives to terms, 
the attack was renewed with increased vigor, not only by the marines on shore, 
but by a bombardment from the ships’ cannons, which dealt great havoc, destroy¬ 
ing the moral , and killing a large number of the islanders, whose heads were 
afterwards cut off and displayed on the ship’s decks. This slaughter was only 
stopped by a procession of peace-makers, who advanced in the face of a volley 

of musketry, signifying by signs, as best they 
could, their intentions to accept any terms that 
the victors might chose to impose. 

Unfortunately these overtures for peace were 
not understood until several more of the natives 
had been sacrificed to the vengeful disposition of 
the marines, so that the shore was almost lined 
with dead bodies, while smoke from a hundred 
burning huts told how great had been the havoc. 


E PLACE WHERE COOK WAS KILLED. 


SURRENDER OF PARTS OF CAPTAIN COOK’S BODY. 

In compliance with requests of Captains King and Clerke, a great number 
of people came down from the hill, carrying pieces of sugar-cane, bread-fruit, 
and plantains, who were preceded by two drummers. As they reached the sea¬ 
shore they sat down, and a chief, named Eappo, motioned for a boat to be sent 
to them from the ship. In response to the signal, Captain Clerke went himself 
on shore with a party of his marines, whereupon Eappo entered the boat, and 
delivered to Captain Clerke a package covered with fine new cloth and a 
cloak of black and white feathers, indicating that therein were the mortu¬ 
ary relics of Captain Cook. And so it proved to be, for on opening the bundle 





UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


510 


there were found entire both hands of the lamented commander, which were 
readily recognized by a scar of an old wound; there was also a portion of the 
skull, to which the scalp and two ears were still attached, and the bones of both 
arms from which the flesh had been cut. Says Captain King: “ Eappo, and the 
King’s son, came on board, and brought with them the remaining bones of Captain 
Cook, the barrels of his gun, his shoes, and some other trifles that belonged to him. 
Eappo took great pains to convince us that Terreeoboo, Maiha-maiha, and himself, 
were most heartily desirous of peace ; that they had given us the most convincing 
proof of it in their power; and that they had been prevented from giving it sooner 
by the other chiefs, many of whom were still our enemies. He lamented, with the 
greatest sorrow, the death of six chiefs we had killed, some of whom, he said, were 
amongst our best friends. The cutter, he told us was taken away by Pareea’s 
people, very probably in revenge for the blow that had been given him, and that it 
had been broken up the next day. The arms of the marines, which we had also 
demanded, he assured us, had been carried off by the common people, and were 
irrecoverable; the bones of the chief alone having been preserved, as belonging to 
Terreeoboo and the Erees gods. Nothing now remained but to perform the last 
offices to our great and unfortunate commander. Eappo was dismissed with orders 
to taboo all the bay; and, in the afternoon, the bones having been put into a coffin, 
and the service read over them, they were committed to the deep with the usual 
military honors. What our feelings were on this occasion, I leave the world 
to conceive; those who were present know that it is not in my power to ex¬ 
press them.” 

EXTRAORDINARY VENERATION OF CAPTAIN COOK’S BONES. 

The account given by Captain King of the killing of Captain Cook and 
the indignities offered to his remains, does not agree with information since given 
by the natives to missionaries stationed on the islands. Mr. Ledyard, who was 
one of the marines who accompanied the expedition, also dissents from Captain 
King’s opinion, and declares that the murder of his commander was not pre¬ 
meditated, but was precipitated by the rash act of one of the marines killing a 
chief, and a series of petty quarrels and abuses, for which the ships’ crews were 
responsible. The mutilation of Captain Cook’s body was at first considered as 
a proof of disgusting revenge, but it was in fact only an evidence of the high 
honor in which he had been held. Mr. Ellis, who took great pains to ascertain all 
the facts attending this melancholy occurrence, was informed by one of the 
natives, who was present at the time, that after Cook’s death “ they all wailed. 
His bones were separated, the flesh was scraped off and burnt, as was the 
practice in regard to their own chiefs when they died. They thought he was 
the god Rono y worshipped him as such, and after his death, reverenced his 
bones.” 

It has already been mentioned that the extraordinary honors paid to Cap¬ 
tain Cook at the Sandwich Islands, were rendered in the belief that he was 
their god Rono or Orono. “ But,” says Mr. Ellis, “ when in the attack made 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


511 


upon him, they saw his blood running and heard his groans, they said ‘ No 
this is not Rono .’ Some, however, after his death still supposed him to be 
Rono , and expected he would appear again. Some of his bones, his ribs, and 
breast-bone were sacredly regarded as part of Rono , and deposited in a Jieiau 
(temple) dedicated to Rono , on the opposite side of the island. There religious 
homage was paid to them, and from thence they were annually carried in pro¬ 
cession to several other heiaus , or borne by priests round the island, to collect 

the offerings of the people, 
for the support of the 
worship of that god. The 
bones were preserved in a 
small basket of wicker¬ 
work, completely covered 
with red feathers, and were 
in those days considered to 
be the most valuable arti¬ 
cles the natives possessed. 
The bones thus preserved 
were never recovered, hav¬ 
ing no doubt been depos¬ 
ited by the priests, to whose 
care they were entrusted, 
in some secret cave, where 
probably they still re¬ 
main. But the natives 
have never since ceased 
to cherish the memory 
of the unfortunate com¬ 
mander, and a cairn was 
by them erected to his 
honor on the site where 
he fell. This rude monu¬ 
ment was replaced a few 
years after by a preten¬ 
tious shaft of marble, as is 
shown in the accompany- 

MONUMENT TO COOK ON THE SANDWICH ISLANDS. illg illllStratlOn. 



DEATH OF CAPTAIN CLERKE. 

On March 15, 1779 the two ships, Resolution and Discovery, took their 
departure from the Sandwich Islands, and steered northward again in quest of 
the long sought passage around North America. Captain Clerke, though suf¬ 
fering in the last stages of consumption, was unwilling to abandon the first 
purpose of the voyage, and being now invested with the command of the ex- 




















512 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


pedition, his ambition made him the more anxious to succeed in the great 
undertaking, and this intense desire no doubt served to prolong his life, as it 
nerved him to increased endeavor. 

The two ships made excellent progress, and in a month the shore of Karnt- 
cliatka was reached, where a considerable stay was made to increase their 
store of provisions by traffic with the Kamtchadales. Thence continuing, the 
vessels pushed northward to 80 degrees (to Icy Cape), but finding another 
barrier of ice, they sailed south and then north-west to a like latitude along 
the shore of Siberia. The extreme limit was named North Cape, from which, 
on account of the impassable ice, the expedition returned southward again. Ou 
August 22d when the ships were near the harbor of St. Peter and St. Paul, on 
the coast of Kamtchatka, Captain Clerke expired, being no longer sustained or 
inspired by an ambition; for his hopes were destroyed by the limitless fields 
of ice that disputed his further passage northward. In the harbor was a small 
Russian village and garrison, and to this place the remains were taken and 
given Christian burial, a priest officiating at the service, and the soldiers of the 
garrison and all the marines firing a volley over his grave, which was made 
under the shadow of a large tree that stood on the north side of the harbor. 

Captain Clerke had accompanied Captain Cook on his three voyages, on the 
first acting as master’s mate, on the second as lieutenant, and on the third being 
promoted to the command of the Discovery, and after Captain Cook’s death he 
became commander-in-chief of the expedition. At his death, Captain Gore suc¬ 
ceeded to the command of the Discovery, and Captain King was made chief corn- 
commander. After this change, considerable time was spent on the shore at Kamt¬ 
chatka among the people of that frigid clime, hunting bears, wolverines, foxes, 
wolves and seals, by which a large quantity of fresh meat was obtained, and 
many valuable furs. The vessels then departed, calling at points in Japan, China, 
and the East India Islands, so that it was not until the 4th of October, 1780, that 
the expedition returned to England, having been absent for a period of four 
years, two months and twenty days. 










CHAPTER L. 


ARCTIC VOYAGES. 

HE story of Arctic exploration is a long and a 
thrilling one. Many centuries ago the • Scandina¬ 
vian pirates, who infested every shore, had, as 
already related, discovered Iceland, and fixed their 
colonies along its bays. To them it was at first a 
safe retreat, where they might divide their spoils; 
but even the earliest of their number did not regard 
themselves as original discoverers, for on landing 
they found the remains of horns, bells, crosses, and 
even books, which led them to believe that the 
Scotch or Irish had been before them. This, in¬ 
deed, does not seem improbable, when the fact is 
remembered that from the most northern point of 
Scotland to the southern capes of Iceland, the 
distance is less than five hundred miles, and that 

the Faroe Islands, situated more than half way, 

were known from very early times, certainly before the ninth century. 

However, the first authentic record of Arctic voyages begins with that of 
Flocco, A. D. 861, whose ravens, loosed at regular intervals during his voyage, 
guided him to Iceland, which he called “ Snowland,” a name retained for two 

hundred years after his day. The first permanent settlement on this far distant 

land was by a party of Norwegian exiles, whose numbers were recruited by friends 
from the mother country, and soon these settlers became a flourishing colony. 

FATE OF THE GREENLAND SETTLERS. 

As told in a previous chapter, Greenland was directly after discovered and 
settled, and the people were for a while prosperous, but at length disaster came 
that blotted them out of existence. On the west coast they were involved in hos¬ 
tilities with the Indians, and the population of over one hundred villages perished 
in the conflict. The fate of the settlement along the east coast is uncertain. Estab¬ 
lished in 983, at the beginning of the fifteenth century there were one hundred and 
ninety villages, divided" into twelve parishes, having a bishop, several convents and 
monasteries, and a lineal succession of sixteen bishops, when, as the seventeenth 
was on his way to take possession of his See, he found all communication with 
the coast cut off by vast masses of ice which had moved down from the Arctic 
Ocean. This ice-veil in front of the Greenland continent has never since been 
removed. Only once do we catch a glimpse of the unfortunate Greenland colonists. 
In the sixteenth century, a vessel from Norway was driven near the coast; the 












514 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


sailors saw houses and people in the fields driving their cattle, but the ice pre¬ 
vented a landing, the ship was forced to stand out to sea,'and the colonists dis¬ 
appeared from view forever. Time and again were efforts made to reach them, 
but each resulted in failure; the eastern colonies of Greenland completely dis¬ 
appeared from history. 

After Scandinavian times, the authentic history of Arctic exploration is 
continued by the Zenoes of Venice, who in 1380 made voyages to Greenland 
and brought back accounts of what they saw. According to their statements 
the Scandinavian settlements there were both extensive and civilized. There 
were monasteries where the monks heated their rooms with hot-water pipes 



PLACE OF FIRST SETTLEMENT IN GREENLAND. 


leading from a volcanic spring; there were churches, warm baths and flower 
gardens; but the stories of the Zenoes received little credence, being regarded 
as the idle tales of gossipping travellers. 

COLUMBUS IN THE POLAR REGIONS. 

We are not accustomed to regard Columbus as an Arctic explorer, but his 
own letters speak of a visit to Iceland, and there are hints that he knew of 
Greenland and that he knew of the countries to the south that are mentioned 
by the Zenoes. After the discovery of America, Arctic voyages began to be 
made with a practical object in view, for the Spaniards, then in the height of 
their power, claimed all America for themselves, and after the discovery of the pas- 











UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


515 


sage to India by the Cape of Good Hope, monopolized the South Seas and 
dealt severely with all intruders. Other nations desired a share of the trade of 
the New World, but unable to get it because of the vigilant watch kept up by 
the Spaniards, began to search for other passages to India and the east. There 
was a firm belief that such routes existed, and rewards were offered by the 
authorities of several nations to navigators for any discovery that proved to be 
of value. 

SPANISH EXPLORATION. 

The Spaniards could not see with indifference the efforts of other nations 
to find a short route to the east, and for fear lest one of the expeditions should 
be successful determined to prosecute the investigation for themselves. As 
early as 1524, Estevan Gomez sailed from Corunna to discover a north-west 
passage, but what course he took, where he went and what he found are not 
known. The efforts of the Spanish government were warmly seconded by the 
Spanish in America, for in 1542 Mendoza, the Viceroy of Mexico, sent two able 
seamen to examine the north-western coast, but with no result; nor did any 
better success attend an expedition sent out for the same purpose by the 
Madrid government in 1544. 

It seems strange that the English took so little interest in the discov¬ 
eries that were setting the world in a whirl, but the records are imperfect, 
and perhaps more was done than has been reported. It is certain, however, 
that so little encouragement was given to Cabot that he left England in 
disgust, and no more expeditions were undertaken until the reign of Henry 
VIII., when two ships, the “ Dominus Vobiscum ” and another, were sent to 
the north-west, where the former was lost, but no records of the voyage have 
been preserved. This unsatisfactory result did not prevent the fitting out of 
an expedition in 1553, under the command of Sir Hugh Willoughby. This 
was undertaken with a new idea. Heretofore all attempts to reach India had 
been by way of the west, but Willoughby, contrary to the general opinion, 
believed that by sailing to the north-east, and passing around Europe and 
Asia, he could reach the Golden Shores. The expedition came to disaster, 
for on the coast of Lapland the ships were caught in the ice, and three 
years later the crews were all found dead. Better fortune attended Richard 
Chancellor, who sailed in the same direction and reached Archangel, whence 
by land he went to Moscow, and was received by the Czar. Ivan Vasilovitch 
was interested in the visit of the English party, but apparently infinitely more 
so in the beard which depended from the chin of one of their number, as he 
well might be, for we are told it was bright yellow, and five feet two inches 
long. How far Master George Killingworth’s phenomenal beard helped on the 
treaty afterwards made is not certain, but the commerce resulting from Chan¬ 
cellor’s voyage opened the way to future explorations, and English ships soon 
penetrated as far as Nova Zembla, and did a large trade along the Russian 
coast. 


516 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


FROBISHER’S STRANGE DISCOVERIES. 

While rapid progress was thus made in the north-east, discussion of the 
north-west pass was carried on with great vigor; its existence was believed in, 
and one Spanish captain claimed that he had come home from India through 
it. The account which he gave of his voyage was widely circulated, and stim¬ 
ulated the imagination of the famous Martin Frobisher, who made the finding 
of the supposed north-west passage the object of his life. So little confidence, 
however, had capitalists in the stories circulated with regard to it, that fifteen 
years of almost constant effort elapsed before Frobisher could induce any one 
to furnish him an outfit. In 1576 he succeeded; two vessels, the “Gabriel” of 
thirty-five, the “ Michael ” of thirty, and a pinnace of ten tons, were placed at 
his disposal; he passed Greenland and entered Frobisher’s Strait, thinking it 
the promised passage, but was stopped by the ice and forced to return. The 
voyage was so unsatisfactory that no other would have been made had it not 
been for a singular accident: A sailor brought home a black stone as a 
memento, and being asked by his wife what he had for her, presented the stone 
as the sole result. In her anger she threw it in the fire, whence it was res¬ 
cued some hours later, split into fragments by the heat, and showing a yellow 
substance which looked like gold. The news of the discovery soon spread, and 
being told at court, another expedition was quickly fitted out, consisting of a 
large ship of “ nine score tunnes,” and two smaller vessels. With this equip¬ 
ment Frobisher returned to the strait, and began to load his ships with ore. 
Having done so, he set up a monument, which two hundred years later was 
discovered none the worse for its exposure, and returned loaded with ore and 
curiosities, among the rest the “ home of a great fishe, two yardes long, grow¬ 
ing out of his snoute.” Not even after this expedition were the scientists 
undeceived as to the nature of Frobisher’s ore, the supposed gold being merely 
specks of mica, but such faith was felt that a fleet of fifteen vessels was at 
once prepared, three of which were to remain, with one hundred persons as 
colonists, while the others were to bring back the gold. 

Under bright auspices the fleet sailed in 1578, but the season was bad, all 
the straits were full of ice, some of the ships were sunk by collision with the 
bergs, others were shattered by storms, no settlement was made, little ore was 
collected, and in August the damaged vessels set out on their return to Eng¬ 
land, where the unwelcome discovery was made that the mineral collected con¬ 
tained not one particle of the precious metal. 

A FIGHT BETWEEN EXPLORERS. 

All attempts thus far had been failures, but the Earl of Warwick now 
started on a new plan, and determined to attack the problem from a different 
direction. He accordingly fitted out a vessel, giving the command to a brave 
soldier named Edward Fenton, and directed him to proceed to India by the 
usual route, but to endeavor to return by the north-west. The Spaniards, how¬ 
ever, learning of his intention, sent a fleet to the Strait of Magellan to inter- 



UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


517 


cept him, and learning the fact, he did not venture to run the risk of encoun¬ 
tering the Spanish force, but returned to England, winning laurels by the way 
in a conflict with the vice-admiral of the Spanish fleet, whose ship he sunk 
in a Portuguese port. 

The merchants of London had not yet relinquished hope of a north-east 
passage, but in 1580 sent out two vessels under command of Arthur Pet and 
Charles Jackman, the former of whom returned two years later, having been 
caught in the Nova Zembla ice, without being able to go further, and no news 
was ever received of the latter. These two failures put an end to north-east 
exploration for a long time but directed renewed attention to the north-west. 

THE LOSS OF SIR HUMPHREY GILBERT. 

In 1583, a fleet was fitted out for the famous Sir Humphrey Gilbert, the 
object being discovery, colonization and conquest. Five ships, from 200 tons to 10 
tons capacity, were manned by 260 men of all professions, among the number 
being five musicians with their instruments, for the purpose of amusing the 
savages who might be encountered. The first stop was made on the coast of 
New Brunswick, where possession was taken of the country and laws were 
made for the government of the colonists and the regulation of their intercourse 
with the natives. Examinations were made of the coast to the north and south, 
in search of some strait to the Pacific, but nothing was found, and the expedi¬ 
tion started on the return voyage. Gilbert had all along sailed in a 10 ton and 
unsafe craft called the “Squirrel,” and when starting home, was urged to leave 
the little boat and take passage on the “Golden Hinde,” but declined to do so, 
a rumor having reached his ears that the sailors of the fleet believed him to 
be afraid of the sea. A terrific storm came on and the last seen of the “Squirrel” 
was' when she passed close under the stern of the larger vessel, and Gilbert 
was heard to call out, “ Courage, my lads, we are as near heaven on sea as on 
land!” In the morning the little boat was no longer to be seen, for she had been 
swamped by the waves and all on board were lost. 

DISAPPOINTMENT OF JOHN DAVIS. 

The three voyages of John Davis, undertaken in the years 1585-86-87, 
brought no more substantial result than the exploration of the strait which 
bears the name of that daring navigator, and in the establishment of a con¬ 
siderable trade with the Esquimaux, who were conciliated by the musicians taken 
along. But in spite of their taste for music, the savages proved to be so mis¬ 
chievous and thievish that Davis was soon, glad to be rid of them and pursue 
his investigation without their assistance. He satisfied himself that the way 
to India lay through the strait he had discovered, but was so far from being 
able to convince his employers that in spite of his arguments they declined to 
send him out again; he sought service with the Dutch and in their employ 
made five voyages to Java and back, the fact being cited by the historians of 
that time as “ A wonderful showe of the goodnesse of God.” 

Nine years after Davis had quitted the English service a curious story came 


518 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


to England from Aleppo. The British agent wrote home to his government that 
he had seen and talked with an old Greek sailor named Juan de Fuca, who 
claimed that in returning from the Indies he had discovered a strait on the west 
coast of North America, and announcing his discovery in Mexico, had been sent 
as pilot to an expedition designed to occupy and fortify it. A mutiny broke out 
among the Spaniards and the expedition returned without result. No attention 
was, at the time, paid to the story, and no attempt made to profit by the dis¬ 
covery, but long after the strait was 
found exactly where the old Greek 
said it was, and, in his honor, was 
called after his name. His supposi¬ 
tion that it was the eagerly sought- 
for passage was not unnatural, as the 
Bay of Vancouver, into which it 
leads, is sufficiently large to justify 
the belief that it penetrated far in¬ 
land. 

EXTRAORDINARY SUFFERINGS OF A WRECKED 
CREW IN THE ARCTIC. 

About this time the Dutch ves¬ 
sels were so much troubled by the 
Spanish cruisers that the Holland 
government determined to put forth 
every effort to find a passage to 
India, which should not lie open to 
the Spanish men-of-war, and Barentz 
was sent to try the north-east. He 
made three voyages, between 1594 
and 1597, in one of which he re¬ 
discovered Spitzbergen, thought to 
have been first seen by Willoughby; 
but in the last voyage his ship was 
caught in the ice on the eastern 
coast of Nova Zembla, and damaged 
beyond hope of repair. The crew 
were forced to pass the winter on this desolate coast, and their story 
is interesting, as furnishing the first authentic record of the severity of 
an Arctic winter. All the phenomena, illustrating the effects of extreme 
cold, so well known through the narratives of later travellers, were here 
observed, and for the first time described. The wine and liquors froze, oil 
became solid, the frost peeled the skin from the faces and hands of the unhappy 
men; they were subjected to the utmost misery from hunger and cold, and yet 
throughout their journals, which are still extant, there breathes a piety so 












UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


519 


sweet and resigned that it is hard to tell whether to pity their misfortune more 
than admire their resignation. When spring came they committed themselves 
to the sea in their open boats, and in forty days made a journey of more than 
noo miles. Several of their number, including their commander, died from the 
hardships to which all were equally exposed; but the remainder had the good 
fortune to fall in with a Dutch vessel at Cola, in which they returned to 
Holland. 

A ROLL OF HONOR. 

A long roll of honorable names now follows, each being identified with 
some additional step towards our knowledge of the Polar regions. William 
Adams, the great pilot, took a Dutch ship to a latitude higher than had been 
attained by Barentz; Waymouth, in the service of England, skirted the Green¬ 
land coast and prepared , the way for Hudson, who followed and discovered the 
strait and bay which bear his name. James Hall, sent out by the Danish 
government, either to search for the lost colonies of Greenland or to find gold, 
it is not certain which, examined the western coast of Davis Strait and reported 
the discovery of several large inlets, one of which he conjectured might be the 
passage to the Pacific.. There was Sir Thomas Button, who the year after 
Hudson’s abandonment by his crew, was sent out to follow the track of that 
ill-fated commander and explore the great bay which had been discovered by 
him. Button sailed around it, naming Nelson’s river, and wintering on the 
south coast; but finding all northern passages choked with ice, returned the 
following year. The next Arctic navigator was Gibbons, who followed Button 
in an effort to explore Hudson Bay, but was driven back by the ice, and carried 
by a floe into Labrador Bay, where he stayed for five months, the place being, 
in derision, named by his crew, “Gibbons, his Hole.” There was Bylot, who 
had been with Hudson Button and Gibbons, who located a number of islands 
to the west of Davis Strait. On a second voyage this enterprising seaman was 
accompanied by Baffin, from whose scholarly notes of the progress made much 
valuable information has been derived. Baffin himself was soon to make a 
name as an explorer, which he did by penetrating through Davis Strait and 
exploring a portion of the bay which bears his own name. 

All these and many more explorers who diligently examined the north¬ 
east coast of America between 1603 and 1615, contributed no little to the general 
stock of information, although the particular discoveries made by any one were 
perhaps of no great importance. But the imperfect date of geographical know¬ 
ledge, the superstitious beliefs, and the fragmentary records that were made, all 
peculiar to that early time, combine to cloud the real results obtained; and as 
every discovery was made subordinate to the finding of gold, or the means for 
extending commerce,—the prime ambitions of the age,—it is not improbable 
that many discoveries of great geographical importance were made, but were so 
little regarded that they were left unrecorded. 


CHAPTER LI. 


STORY OF A STARVING CREW. 



EFORE the close of 1619 the Danish gov¬ 
ernment took a renewed interest in Arctic- 
exploration and sent out the famous Jen 
Munk with two ships of forty-eight men. 
The story of this voyage is one of the 
most thrilling in the history of Arctic ex¬ 
ploration. The ships penetrated Hudson 
Bay, and somewhere on the southern coast 
were hemmed in by the ice. There they 
wintered and on account of the extreme 
length of the cold, their provisions were 
exhausted and the men reduced to such a condi¬ 
tion by scurvy and privation that they had no 
strength to hunt. In May only three out of the 
whole number were left alive, Munk and two compan¬ 
ions, but these encouraged each other to make special effort to procure food. 
They scratched away the snow and found roots which they’ eagerly devoured. 
Gaining thus a little strength, they proceeded to take fish in the streams, and 
at last formed the determination to try to get back to Europe. One of their 
ships freeing itself from the ice, they got on board and by singular good fortune 
these three, in spite of hardships almost innumerable, and ever present starvation, 
actually succeeded in taking their vessel across the Atlantic to Denmark where 
they were received as from the dead. 

NORTH-WEST FOX. 

Twelve years later the search was resumed by Luke Fox, better known in 
his own time as Xorth-West Fox, from his constant conversation on the sub¬ 
ject of the north-west passage. He set out from England with a good ship 
and by his own account, “ plenty of excellent fatt beefe, strong beere, wheat- 
meale, sirrups, balsommes, gummes, and pils,” but beyond seeing a vast 
“ quantitie of ise, in lumpes as bigg as a churche,” besides “ masht ise in peaces 
of all sizes,” and “ a unicorn about nine foot, back ridged, with a small finne 
thereon, his side purely white and his shape from his gils to his tale like a 
mackarall, his head like a lobster, where on his fore part grewe forthe his 
twined horn above six foot longe,” he made no discovery" of consequence, and 
recording in his diary" his opinion that he had made “ but a scurvie voyage of 
it,” went home. His employers agreed with him as to the character of the 

V520) 




UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


521 


voyage and we hear no more of Fox. Nor did Danell fare any better than Fox, 
for so numerous were the difficulties he encountered, that he called his journal 
the “ Boke of Danells Lamentations,” while the same may be said also of 
James, who about the same time sailed from England on a voyage which proved 
fruitless. So complete was the failure in each case that the question was con¬ 
sidered to be set at rest and forty years elapsed ere another expedition was 
fitted out for the Arctic regions. 

FOUNDING OF THE HUDSON BAY COMPANY. 

Meantime the French had occupied Canada, and an adventurer named 
Grosselies had penetrated from the St. Lawrence to the shores of Hudson 
Bay. Seeing the possibilities of the country he determined to found a colony 
there, but the French government would have nothing to do with the scheme 
and he went to England with his project, where he found an eager listener in 
the person of Prince Rupert, who had made a reputation as soldier, sailor, poet, 
chemist and naturalist. Rupert obtained from the King, in 1669, a charter or¬ 
ganizing the Hudson Bay Company; a captain named Gillam was sent out, 
who on Rupert’s River built a small stone fort and called it Fort Charles, which 
proved to be the humble beginning of a mighty commercial enterprise The 
employes of this great corporation in one way forwarded geographical research 
and in another hindered it, for while they made overland journeys to the north 
and thus contributed much to the general fund of knowledge, they were not slow 
to assert the monopoly they enjoyed and more than one vessel was turned 
back by the armed agents of the company which did not favor any exploration 
but that done by its own people. 

However, under Knight and Barlow, Vaughan and Scroggs, the work 
went on, and public interest in the mythical passage was greatly excited by 
the long trial of Capt. Middleton in 1742. Middleton had been in the service 
of the Hudson Bay Company, but was engaged by a wealthy Englishman 
named Dobbs to undertake a voyage of discovery in 1741. He claimed that 
he found nothing, but some of his officers declared that he had not tried, and 
the assertion was made that the Hudson Bay people had bribed him to render 
the voyage fruitless. No more came of the trial than of the voyage, but the 
immediate result was the sending out of two ships instead of one, the twain 
being commanded by Moor and Smith. They wintered about two miles from 
the cqmpany’s fort, York, on the Hayes River, and although comfortable huts 
were built and every precaution taken to prevent suffering from the cold, the 
utmost misery was endured. Bottled beer was frozen while the bottles were 
standing before the fire; the difference between the temperature of the huts 
and the air outside was so great that persons entering fainted; if a door or 
window was opened, the cold air condensing the moisture within caused a snow 
shower ; the freezing of sap in logs caused them to burst with a noise like a pistol- 
shot ; spirits of wine and pure alcohol became of the consistency of thick oil. 
“When we touched iron or any other smooth solid surface our fingers were 


522 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


frozen to it; if in drinking a dram of brandy ont of a glass one’s tongue or 
lips touched it, in pulling it away the skin is left on it. One of our people, in 
carrying a bottle of brandy from the ship to his house, having no cork stopped 
it with his finger, and so lost the nail and half the finger before he was cured.” 
A winter spent under such circumstances was not favorable for exploration in 
the spring, but in spite of the debilitated condition of the men, Moor and 
Smith examined the northern entrances to Hudson Bay and satisfied themselves 
that were it not for the ice several of the passages they found were perfectly 
practicable. 

LOOKING FOR A COPPER MINE. 

In 1769, the Hudson Bay Company heard of a copper mine to the north 
of the bay, and inspired by the hope of gain, sent Samuel Hearne with a com¬ 
pany of Indians to look for it. He made three journeys, reaching the North 
American coast and adding several important items to the general stock of knowl¬ 
edge on the subject. The accuracy of his observations has often been questioned, 
but the practicability of reaching the coast by a land route was fully established. 
The failure to discover the copper mine, however, dampened the ardor of the 
company and no further attempt was made at exploration in this direction by 
its agents. 

Hitherto all Arctic voyages had been undertaken with a business purpose, 
but in 1773, an interest having aroused in the scientific feature, John Phipps, 
afterwards Lord Mulgrave, was commissioned to sail as near the North Pole as 
possible. He proceeded north to Spitzbergen, where his course was blocked by 
a solid wall of ice which he skirted to the Greenland coast without finding an 
opening into which the ship could be thrust. This result, for a time, put an 
emphatic estoppel on the idea of an open Polar sea and men again turned theii 
thoughts to the north-west passage. 

COOK AND CLERKE. 

The subject was now taken up by the British government, a reward of 
^20,000 offered to the crew of any ship which should discover a practicable 
route. Two vessels were prepared, the Resolution and the Discovery, and the com¬ 
mand given to the renowned Capt. James Cook and hardly less known Charles 
Clerke. Their instructions were to proceed to the Pacific, enter the strait the 
existence of which had been determined by the land explorations of Behring 
while in the service of the Russian government, and endeavor to make a way 
from the west to the east. Cook sailed on this, destined to be his last voyage, 
in 1776, passed round South America, went through Behring Strait and made 
several landings on the shores of both Asia and Europe. Everywhere he found 
a barrier of ice through which in vain he endeavored to force his way, and 
after efforts lasting all the following summer, he withdrew, skirted the coast of 
Asia for some distance, and finally put in at the Sandwich Islands where he 
lost his life, as more particularly related in the chapters herein devoted to 
Cook’s voyages. The command was then assumed by Clerke, who in the fol- 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


523 


lowing year made another effort in the same direction, but was unable to pene¬ 
trate even as far to the north as Cook had done, and so giving up the experi¬ 
ment he started to return but died on the way and was buried on the Siberian shore. 

To co-operate with Cook, in case he should be successful, a vessel was des¬ 
patched by the British Admiralty to pass as far up Baffins Bay as possible 
and there await his arrival. The command was given to Lieutenant Pickers- 
gill, who appears to have been a timid man and deterred by the dangers of the 
undertaking, for instead of proceeding, he crept cautiously from one headland 
to another along the shore and so wasted the summer and returned to England. 
He was superseded and his ship, the Lion, sent out the following year under 
Walter Young. This officer sailed boldly up the bay until the channel nar¬ 
rowed and it became impossible for him to proceed further, when he too re¬ 
turned, having discovered nothing. 

EFFECTS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

The wars of the American Revolution and with France, put a stop to 
British explorations from 1776 to 1815, and during this time, with one excep¬ 
tion, nothing was done. The exception was a vessel sent out by the Danish 
government on an expedition to Greenland. Hope that descendants of the lost 
colonies might still survive had not ceased and Captain Lowenarm was sent to 
make an examination of the coast. For three years he faithfully tried to pen¬ 
etrate the ice-barrier that kept all vessels from the land, but at no time was he 
able to approach within less than ten miles, and generally his ship was from 
thirty to sixty miles from the mountains, nor could he discover the slightest 
evidence of population. 

The wars which distracted Europe did not, however, prevent the Hudson 
Bay Company from making land explorations, which placed many inlets and 
islands on the maps, while during the last century the Russian government 
made considerable progress in Arctic knowledge by examining the coast of 
Siberia. Their agents ascertained that everywhere the coast was low and 
encumbered with ice, that America was separated from Asia by a narrow and 
shallow strait, but made no progress in the direction of finding a practicable 
passage. 

The peace of 1815 caused a revival of interest in Arctic exploration, and 
the result was a renewal of expeditions. The fresh interest first manifested 
itself in the doings of Barrow, who, through his influence in Parliament, secured 
the offer of a reward of twenty thousand pounds for the discovery of a north¬ 
west passage, and five thousand pounds for the crew of any ship that went as 
high as eighty-nine degrees. The display of interest exhibited by Barrow led 
to two expeditions in the year 1817, each being composed of two ships. The 
first was designed to explore the Polar Ocean between Spitzbergen and Green¬ 
land ; the second, to follow the already well beaten route through Davis Strait 
and Baffins Bay. The experience of the last few expeditions led to the selec¬ 
tion of whaling vessels for this service, they being better fitted, both to endure 


524 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


the hard knocks of the ice, and for the comfortable accommodation of crews in 
extremely high latitudes. The first expedition was commanded by Beecham 
and Franklin, the second by Ross and Parry. No result attended the voyage in 
the direction of Spitzbergen, but the other expedition discovered in North 
Baffin Bay a wide extent of open water in which sported numerous schools of 
whales, and thus was established an extensive whale fishery in a quarter of the 
earth formerly believed to be unavailable for such a purpose. 



ICE-ElEEDS OK THE ARCTIC. 

DISCOVERIES OF PARRY AND FRANKLIN. 


The discovery of several inlets to the west of Baffin Bay led to an 
exploration of them during the following year by Parry, in command of two 
vessels, the Hecla and Griper. Parry passed through Lancaster Sound, examined 
the islands called by. his name, surveyed Wellington Channel, and being stopped 
by the ice, wintered there, in the spring getting his vessels out with the 
utmost difficulty, and returning to England in the fall of 1820. The unsatis¬ 
factory result of this expedition led to another under the same commander, in 
the year 1821, with the Fury and Hecla. The winter of that year was passed 



















UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


525 


at a point near to his camping-place of the previous season, but in the spring 
he pushed on, and passed the second winter at a point almost due north of 
Hudson Bay, finding there a strait leading directly from it to the Polar Sea, 
which he named Fury and Hecla Strait, and thus established the northern 
connection between this great inland body of water and the North Sea. 

While this was going on Franklin was making determined efforts by land 
to supplement whatever discoveries might be made by Parry. With three white 
companions and a number of Indians he started from Fort York in 1819 to the 
Great Slave Lake; thence going to the Coppermine River, which he descended 
to the sea, and then explored about five hundred miles of coast line, and under 
circumstances of extreme hardship returned to his starting point. 

There was now a stretch of unknown coast between the discoveries made 
by Parry and those of Franklin, and to connect the surveys of the two seemed 
highly desirable. Accordingly, in 1824, expeditions were started from three 
different directions; Parry from the east, followed the same route which he had 
before pursued; Franklin from the south passed down the Mackenzie River, 
and thence along the coast to the west, while Beecham was sent to Behring 
Strait, to go east, and if possible communicate with Franklin. This plan, which 
was admirable in every detail, was but partially carried out. Parry was stopped 
by the ice; Franklin reached the mouth of the Mackenzie and examined the 
coast for four hundred miles to the west, while Beecham, although not able to 
go sufficiently far east to communicate with Franklin, nevertheless penetrated to 
Point Barrow, and then returned. Thus only a few gaps were left on the coast 
of North America, while in the meantime the Russians had completed an ex¬ 
amination, superficial to be sure, of the Siberian coast, and the problem was 
nearly solved. In addition, Captain Clavering, an enterprising whaler, had 
managed to force a boat through the ice of East Greenland, and had surveyed 
four hundred miles of that toast, which had not been reached since the tenth 
century. 

LAST VOYAGE OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN. 

With the exception of an attempt made by Parry in 1827 to reach the Pole 
by way of Spitzbergen, an attempt which was as notable a failure as all previous 
efforts in that direction, most explorations have followed the line indicated by 
Parry up Davis Strait. In 1829 Charles and James Ross, in the Victory, passed 
up Davis Strait in an attempt to surpass previous efforts, but were singularly 
unfortunate, since their vessel was caught in the ice, and the crews were de¬ 
tained four winters in the Arctic regions, and finally, with almost unendurable 
sufferings, deserted their ship and were picked up by a whaler. Several ex¬ 
peditions which were sent out in search of the Rosses accomplished very little, 
but in the meantime, the Hudson Bay agent had by land completed the survey 
of the North American coast, and showed that a water communication from the 
Atlantic to the Pacific was extremely probable; and the publication of these 
facts led Sir John Franklin to undertake his last expedition. He was greatly 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


520 

encouraged to the undertaking by sea from the fact that in one of his land 
journeys he had discovered a channel along North Somerset, and had great 
hopes that ic might be the entrance to the open sea. 

In 1845, Franklin and the volunteers who accompanied him left England in 
the Erebus and Terror, to make the passage by way of Lancaster Sound to Behr¬ 
ing Strait. The story of this unfortunate expedition and its tragical close, the 
heroic devotion shown by Lady Franklin, the interest she was able to inspire 
on the subject, and the fifteen expeditions which were sent out in search of 
her husband and his crew, have become a household tale. There is no grander 
story of woman’s devotion. Year after year, hoping against hope, she refused 
to believe her husband dead, nor did she ever accept the truth until the dis¬ 
covery of the cairn containing the records of the expedition for three years, 
and noting the death of Sir John. 

RESULTS OF THE FRANKLIN LOSS. 

The Franklin disaster directly led to the expeditions of Ross, Austin, 
Kennedy, Bellet, McClure, Rae, Belcher, Kettit, McClintock, and Inglefield, and 
to the exploration of seven thousand miles of coast line, and to the discovery 
of the north-west passage made by McClure and his crew, although they did not 
make all the journey in the same ship, and part of it was over ice impassable 
by vessels. It led also to the remarkable journey of Meacham, who with his com¬ 
panions travelled thirteen hundred and thirty-six miles in sixty-one days, over 
ice sometimes exceedingly difficult of passage. It showed also the remarkable 
ice-drift to the south, for when the ship Resolute was abandoned, she was found a 
year later over one thousand miles further south than the point at which she had 
been deserted. It also established the fact that Franklin really discovered the 
north-west passage, and had circumstances been a little more favorable, would 
probably have reached the Pacific by the way of the Polar Sea. 

CAPTAINS WHO HAVE REACHED THE NORTH POLE. 

In connection with the efforts made by so many explorers of the past century 
to reach the North Pole, and the invariable story of failure, disaster, and death 
which belongs to each, some facts appertaining to voyagers of earlier centuries 
are particularly interesting and important. Forster relates, “ that when the 
Northern Company in Holland was still in the fullness of her splendor (viz.: 
from 1614 to 1641), a ship was despatched to Greenland for the purpose of fetch¬ 
ing train-oil, which was used to be manufactured in Swendenberge; but there 
being not a sufficient quantity ready to complete the full lading, the captain 
finding the sea quite open, sailed straight on to the northward, and at the distance 
of two degrees from it (the North Pole), went twice around it. Wood also, as 
he himself informs us, was told by Mr. Joseph Moxon, in 1676, that being in 
Holland about twenty years before, he heard a very respectable Dutch captain of a 
ship say that he had navigated under the very Pole, where he found the weather 
as warm as it used to be in Amsterdam in summer. In fine Captain Goulden, 
likewise, who had made upwards of twenty voyages to Greenland, told King 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


527 


Charles the Second, that, being about twenty years before in Greenland, he found 
himself with two Dutch-Greenland navigators near Edges Island (discovered by 
Thomas Edge in 1616), to the eastward of that country, when no whales appear¬ 
ing near the shore, the two Dutch captains resolved to sail farther on towards 
the north; which in fact they did, and a fortnight afterwards returned and re¬ 
lated that they had been as far as the 89th degree (which is within one degree, 
or a fraction less than sixty-eight miles of the Pole), and had met with no ice, 
but with a free and open sea, with large and hollow waves, as in the Bay of 
Biscay. One of these captains afterwards happened to go to England, when 
Captain Gould took him to some members of the Northern Company, whom he 
fully convinced of the truth of his relation.” For authority in substantiation of 
these surprising statements, Mr. Forster refers to Hon. Mr. Boyle’s “History 



SCHWATICA’S OVERLAND JOURNEY. 

of Cold,” and Zorgdrager’s “ Greenland Whale Fishery,” vol. ii., chapter 10, 
page 162; 

The extraordinary claim thus made appears more astonishing when we con¬ 
sider the latitudes attained by the most noted arctic explorers of more modern 
times: Parry, in 1827, reached 79 0 ; Kane, in 1850, 8o°3o'; Hayes, in 1861, 
8i° 30'; Hall, in 1871, 82° 16'; Nares, in 1876, 83° 20'; and Lieutenant Lock- 
wood and Sergeant Brainard, of the Greely Expedition, in 1884, reached 83° 24', 
at a point now known as Cape Robert Lincoln, the highest latitude accepted 
history declares any man ever attained. Thus Lockwood was no nearer than 
about 430 miles from the Pole, a degree in that latitude being nearly sixty- 
eight statute miles, or a mile and a half less than it is at the Equator. 

The numerous discoveries made by the expeditions searching for Franklin 











528 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


apparently only stimulated the zeal for Arctic exploration. In 1850, Kane pass¬ 
ing up Baffin Bay entered Smith Sound, the most northerly passage then 
known, explored that great body of water, examined the west coast of Greenland, 
and laid down a map, the accuracy of which has never been disputed. While 
not among the first to note the Greenland glaciers, he was the first to determine 
their prodigious extent, which surpassed anything known in any part of the 
world, one being not less than forty-five miles wide, and possessed of a solid 
body of ice. I11 i860, the path of Kane was followed by Hayes, and later by Hall, 
both of whose voyages were notable; the first from the fact that he discovered 
the house built in 1578 by Martin Frobisher; and during the second, besides 
finding relics of Sir John Franklin, he took his vessels two hundred and fifty 
miles up the channel leading out of Smith Bay to the North, and wintered in 
eighty-two degrees. The Alert and Discovery followed in the same line in 1875, 
and during that expedition Captain Markham took the former vessel to the 
highest latitude ever reached by a ship, eighty-two degrees twenty-seven minutes; 
then made a sledge journey to eighty-three degrees twenty minutes. The work 
of Captain Markham is chiefly interesting from the observations he made on the 
flora and fauna of that region. 

THE OVERLAND JOURNEY OF SCHWATKA. 

Various expeditions by the Dutch, Swedes, and Danes followed, with no 
very important result, and the historian knows little that was startling until the 
famous journey by Schwatka. Anxious to discover what had been the fate of 
the Franklin expedition, he started overland by way of the estuary of the Great 
Fish river. Eminently successful in his investigations, the relics he discovered 
and the stories he collected among the Esquimaux have a pathetic interest, as 
corroborative of previous intelligence concerning Franklin’s fate. All the tradi¬ 
tions of the Esquimaux pointed in the same direction as the discoveries made 
by those who had really set the matter at rest, so while Schwatka added not so 
much to geographical knowledge as he intended, the narrative of his journal is 
almost without a parallel in the story of Arctic exploration. 

Still the world was not satisfied, and the modern craving for news led the 
proprietor of the New York Herald to send out the Jeannette expedition in 
1879. The “Jeannette” started to solve the Polar problem byway of Behring 
Strait, and the fate of the vessel, and of the men forced to abandon her, the 
unhappy death of De Long, the journey home of the survivors, compose a 
melancholy chapter of Arctic history, a chapter which is not improved by the 
addition to it of the terrible story of Greely, so recent as to be a household word. 











CHAPTER Eli. 

VOYAGES OF NORDENSKIOLD. 



EPEATED failures to accomplish the objects 
sought for did not quench the ardor of 
Arctic explorers and a year before the de¬ 
parture of the Jeannette, a vessel started 
from Gothenburg on a voyage destined to be 
the grandest success ever achieved in Arctic 
exploration. The vessel was the “ Vega,” and 
the commander was the famous Nordens- 
kiold. He was no tyro in Arctic explora¬ 
tion ; six times had he visited Greenland 
and Spitzbergen, and had penetrated to the interior 
of the former only to find a vast expanse of 
snow and never-ending glaciers; he had laid 
down on the charts the cliffs and coast line 
of the latter, in a survey more accurate than that of any previous explorer. 

In 1875, seeking for worlds to explore, he turned his attention to the 
north coast of Siberia, and became convinced of the practicability of circum¬ 
navigating it by following the course of the ocean currents. In the year 
mentioned he reached the Yenisei through the Kara Sea, and in the following 
year, the charge having been made that the season favored the voyage, he suc¬ 
cessfully repeated his exploit. 

Determined to attack the problem of the north-east passage, Nordenskiold 
was successful in interesting the King of Sweden and leading capitalists of 
that country in his plan, and elaborate preparations were made to carry it out. 
In this proposed expedition, he had the advantage of perfect familiarity with 
the mistakes of all previous explorers, and was thus enabled to guard against 
the dangers which befell others who went before. Four vessels composed the 
expedition; the one in which he designed to make the passage, the Vega, was 
manned by two officers and seventeen men, volunteers of the Swedish navy. 
It was a staunch whaler of two hundred and ninety-nine tons, built of oak r 
and filled with a good sixty horse-power engine. The bo’ttom was supplied 
with iron tanks, which would afford resistance to the ice, and a casing of oak 
and steel covered all the surface which would be exposed to floating bergs. A 
small tender called the Lena was to accompany the Vega to the mouth of the 
Lena river, and in two other ships stores and coal were to be carried, for a 
last supply after the Vega should leave the bounds of civilization. 

34 (529) 











530 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


The expedition sailed from Karls Krona June 22, 1878, called at Copen¬ 
hagen for provisions, stopped at Gothenberg, and then passed up the Norway 
coast to Tromsal where it was joined by Nordenskiold and his officers, and on 
July 21, the Arctic voyage began in earnest. A halt was made at Maosoe, 
near the North Cape, and the last homeward bound letters were mailed at the 
most northern post-office in the world. It is a dreary place, surrounded in 
summer by black rocks, in winter by everlasting snow and ice. The princi¬ 
pal food of the population is fish from the neighboring seas. Potatoes may be 
good if the year is exceptionally favorable, which, however, is frequently not 
the case. Radishes, lettuce and spring onions grow readily, and these consti¬ 
tute the sole fresh food of the population from year to year. At the North 
Cape they were detained several days by bad weather, but on July 25th Nor¬ 
denskiold started east to Nova Zembla, determined to skirt the coast of that 
forbidding land and get through the first available opening into the Kara Sea. 
Three days later Gooseland was sighted, so called from the immense flocks of 
geese and swans which there make their nests and raise their young. Leaving 
Gooseland to the east, the expedition passed to the Yagor Schar, and there 
sighted the Fraser and the Express, the other two ships of the expedition, 
which, having better weather, had passed the Vega on the way. The ships 
cast anchor before the village of Chaberoba, a collection of huts inhabited by 
the Samoyeds. Few more desolate regions can be conceived of than this most 
northerly inhabited region of the globe, yet the natives carry on a considerable 
trade in furs and skins, worship in a wooden church lighted with brass lamps, 
and annually bring from the south more tea than bread. 

ABUNDANCE OF ANIMAL LIFE. 

During the short stay at this point, the members of the expedition could 
not fail to notice the astounding abundance and variety of animal life : petrels, 
auks, guillemots, puffins, gulls, geese, swans, terns, ducks, waders, fill the air and 
sea; while reindeer cover the hills. Bears and foxes prowled among the rocks, 
and seals and whales disported themselves in the waters, even near the coast, 
and fish were to be had for the trouble of taking. The walrus, however, at 
the time of Nordenskiold’s visit, was almost extinct. The crews of previous 
ships had wantonly slaughtered the defenceless animals, 'sometimes killing as 
niany as one thousand in six hours, and at present there is scarcely one to be seen. 

Passing into the Kara Sea, on August 6th the expedition reached the mouth 
of the Yenisei at a point where, although the population is now thin, there are 
evidences of previous habitation. Many cabins were found, each containing a 
number of small rooms, while every house was provided with a bake-oven, 
kitchen, cellars, and even with rooms, which, by no great stretch of imagination, 
could be conceived to be bath-rooms. Here the explorers found also places of 
sacrifice, where the skulls of animals were mounted on poles ; they found graves 
almost on the surface, with bodies which, from the extreme severity of the 
climate, were perfectly frozen, and although they had the appearance of having 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


531 



A DANCE WITH SIBERIAN GIRLS. 

INTO AN UNKNOWN SEA. 

Port Dixon, tlie bay at the mouth of the Yenisei, was left behind on August 
ioth, and the Vega with her tender started forward on an unknown sea. The 
Arctic Ocean had there but few of the terrors which it possessed along the 
northern shores of America ; it was shallow, and what ice to be seen was evidently 
the rotten remains of river ice from the previous winter. The fogs, however, were 
incessant, and constant care was necessary for the safety of the ship, for during 
many miles their course lay among islands and islets. A singular feature of 


been buried for generations, presented not the slightest evidence of decomposition. 
The few inhabitants who still remained were exceedingly hospitable, eagerly 
invited the strangers to land, and an acceptance of the invitation was at once 
followed by a feast of the best the country afforded, and a grand dance in which 
the first girls of the neighborhood, dressed not unlike the men, participated. 












532 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


this portion of the Arctic Ocean was in the myriads of dead fish which could 
be clearly seen at the bottom of the sea. They had evidently been frozen in 
the river ice and thus had perished, but their discovery excites a pertinent 
observation on the part of the explorer, who remarks how seldom a “ self-dead ” 
animal is found. What becomes of them is a problem he does not attempt to 
solve, nor does he account for the fact that the birds they shot on the island 
had their crops full of insects in a country where the utmost diligence on the 
part of a naturalist could find few or no specimens of the insect world. On 



WALRUS HUNTERS IN THE ARCTIC. 


the snow still upon the hills he discovered much cosmic dust, precipitated no 
doubt from other worlds, and a very curious find was that of great numbers of 
crystals on the surface of the snow. These, upon examination, proved to be 
composed of carbonate of lime, but whence it came was as much of a problem 
to Nordenskiold as to his readers. 

Actinia Bay, so called from the number of actinia brought up by the dredge 
was reached on August 14th, and here they remained four days, for although 
there was very little ice, the fog was so bad that progress was almost impossible. 











UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


533 


In this far off corner of the world the Swedish explorer came near meeting one 
of his countrymen, a whaler named Johannesen, who in that summer was driven 
there by bad weather and heavy gales from the north-west. Johannesen’s 
ship, however, passed along the horizon just out of sight, and the Vega sailed 
and steamed for several days along the coast in a fog which prevented much 
observation, and on the nineteenth of August the explorers saw before them a 
dark ice-free cape, rising but little above the fog, marking the most northern 
point of Asia, and the vessels came to anchor where ships had never been before. 

REMARKABLE CUSTOMS OF SIBERIANS. 

Both on the Yenesei and on the Lena abundant opportunities were given 
the travellers for observing peculiarities of Siberian river-life. The river boats 
are not large, seldom exceeding twenty feet in length, and midway of each 
stands a small cabin which, summer and winter, is kept intensely hot by the 
bake-oven employed to prepare the bread, which every day is cooked fresh for 
the boatman’s family. So warm is the cabin that even in the severest weather 
the occupants are constantly in a perspiration. Nor does it seem to harm 
them in the least to pass from the torrid heat within to the temperature of 
thirty-five or forty degrees below zero without. They seldom take cold, and in this 
connection it may be noted that the natives of Siberia have accustomed them¬ 
selves to a great many practices which would probably be fatal to the inhabit¬ 
ants of other countries. For instance, after taking a steam bath they will rush 
out of the house and throw themselves into beds of snow for the purpose of 
cooling off. The result is satisfactory, since so far as appearances go they do 
not seem to be in the least harmed by so extraordinary a change. 

. On the banks of the Siberian rivers the houses are mostly log cabins, but 
the further one goes to the south the better is the style of architecture, and 
not very many miles from the mouth of the Yenesei the houses are of frame, 
with lintels and cornices elaborately carved. A large part of the population is 
made up of exiles, but there is little distinction between them and the original 
colonists, nor is there any difference between the man exiled for crime and the 
man exiled for politics. “I was unfortunate” is an expression which describes 
any offense resulting in transportation to Siberia, from the crime of murder to 
abuse of the Czar. 

The river boats bear to and fro a large part of the commerce of the in¬ 
terior, and during their journeys up the rivers, if the winds fail, dogs are used 
to pull the boat; and so frequently are these animals employed for this pur¬ 
pose that they have worn a path at intervals along the river, and by the side 
of country roads graves appear, the bodies being interred two or three feet be¬ 
low the ground and then the grave being boarded up to keep away the wolves. 
The conditions of climate in Siberia are so different from those in other parts 
of the world that many practices there perfectly natural would elsewhere seem 
out of place. In the northern portion the ground is thawed only a few inches 
by the hottest summer. A cellar is dug with extreme difficulty, but when once 


534 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


prepared, meats, fruits and the like, placed in it, are really in an ice-house, and 
may be kept frozen all the year around. Bodies of the dead, sometimes re¬ 
moved for interment elsewhere, are found to be in as complete a state of pre¬ 
servation as though buried but yesterday, even though the interment has lasted 
many years. 

THE NEW SIBERIAN ISLANDS. 

After parting with the Lena, the Vega set forward alone, steering direct 
for the New Siberian Islands. This curious group of islets has for many years 
been the resort of searchers for fossil ivory. It seems strange that in this far 
away part of the world, so far to the north as to be beyond the bounds of 
civilization, there should be a mine of ivory, but Africa is not more productive 
of this article than are the Siberian Islands. Not alone is the ivory of ele¬ 
phants found, but also that of the mammoth. Tusks of prodigious length are 
sometimes discovered, attesting in the strongest manner the size and strength 
of this prehistoric world. The ivory is sometimes dug out of the earth, but 
more frequently is exposed by heavy ocean swells which have prevailed for 
several days, washing away the banks of the islands and leaving the tusks 
to be easily recovered. But not only the ivory, but even the bodies of these 
gigantic animals have frequently been found. When discovered they are frozen 
fast in the earth, and the flesh is in such a state of preservation from the intense 
cold to which it has been exposed for ages that the natives sometimes use it for 
food. Nearly thirty entire bodies of the mammoth have been discovered at different 
times by Europeans, to say nothing of those which have probably been found 
and destroyed by the natives ; and in each case the enormous carcass was covered 
with hair sometimes two or three feet in length. The bodies of hairy elephants 
have also been found, the remains of a kind of rhinoceros covered with wool and 
hair, and having a horn often five feet long. One such find, the body of a mam¬ 
moth, was made by Nordenskiold. Intelligence was brought to the vessel that a 
large carcass had been partly unearthed at some distance, and a detachment was 
sent to examine the body and detach such portions as could conveniently be taken 
away. The enormous carcass was frozen hard, but as the body far exceeded in 
size that of the largest elephant, it was impossible to bring it away, and so the 
expedition contented itself with rescuing the tusks and a large part of the skin. 

Time was beginning to be precious, and although the temptation was strong 
to make a stay at the Siberian Islands, the commander was afraid of delay, and, 
as he had been able to proceed thus far, had a strong hope of pushing through 
Behring Strait before the fall ice formed in the bays to the north. So on they 
pressed, through seas absolutely unknown, the constant fog rendering it neces¬ 
sary to lie by at night, and even for several days at a time the ship was 
obliged either to remain tied to an ice-floe, or to proceed very slowly, with one 
or more boats in the van, to prevent all danger of sudden collision with ice¬ 
bergs. 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


535 



up a favorable position on the deck to view the strangers who were coming along in 
boats to pay them a visit. They were Chukchies, a strange people of Siberia and 
better looking than Esquimaux. The men were tall, well formed and active, the 
women of an intelligent appearance, and the children seemed to have no character 
at all, being merely animated bundles of reindeer skins. These first visitors to 
the Vega clambered up the side of the ship in a way that indicated they had 
seen vessels before, and so they had, as they soon demonstrated, for although 
not one of the company knew a word of Russian, every one of them could 
count in English and knew the name not only of the vessel, but also of several 
familiar objects on it, in the same language. It was evident that American 
whalers had frequently visited these waters, and Nordenskiold was not long in 


MEETING THE CHUKCHIES. 

September 6th was a day long to be remembered. During the whole of their 
voyage from the mouth of the Lena to the Siberian Islands, no human beings 
had been seen. For anything to the contrary noticed by the crew of the Vega, 
they might be proceeding along the coast of a desert island. But on the after¬ 
noon of that day a cry arose that boats were in sight. The shout brought 
everyone to the deck save the cook. This individual appears to have confined 
himself strictly to his duties, and as the historian of the expedition remarks, “ he 
seldom appeared on deck, and circumnavigated Europe and Asia without once hav¬ 
ing been on land.” Leaving the cook behind, therefore, the rest of the crew took 


NORDENSKIOLD VISITED BY CHUKCHIES. 







536 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


finding out that intercourse between them and the natives had been compara¬ 
tively common in recent years. However, none of the Chukchies knew enough 
English to make themselves understood, and there was no communication save 
by signs. Presents of tobacco and pipes were liberally given, and the sailors 
made glad the hearts of the simple folk by presenting them with old clothing 
in great abundance, for every one on the ship supposed the voyage nearly at 
an end, and anticipated soon being able to buy what they needed in the ports 
of Japan and China. 

A CHUKCHIE FEAST. 

The day following the meeting with the Chukchies being too foggy to proceed 
the crew visited the natives on shore and were well received wherever they went, 
being treated to the best in the savage larder. A feast was made for the 
strangers, and the hospitality of the Chukchies prompted them to treat their 
visitors to walrus meat, reindeer steak, seal fat, blubber, with a soup made from 
vegetables which had been taken from the stomachs of dead reindeer, and an 
after-course of train oil, drunk hot. It was evidently the first time a steam 
vessel had been seen on this coast, and the “ fiery reindeer,” as the natives 
called the vessel, created intense excitement. The news spread up and down 
the coast and natives from every direction came with offers to trade. They 
wanted needles, pots, knives and axes, and were willing to pay the best prices 
for saws, iron tools, bright-colored shirts and handkerchiefs, and would have 
parted with all they had for tobacco, sugar and spirits. Unfortunately, the Vega 
had not come prepared to barter, and the Chukchies knew nothing of the value of 
money, so the trading was limited. This was greatly to their disappointment, 
for it seems they were accomplished traders and had already established com¬ 
mercial intercourse with the American Indians at Behring Strait. Greatly to 
their surprise the people of the Vega cared nothing for the articles they were 
most anxious to sell. Nordenskiold was not a 'trader and soon gave the Indians 
to understand this, but that if they had garments, weapons, domestic utensils 
or any ethnological specimens for sale, they would find him a purchaser, although 
they seemed to regard him as out of his wits for wishing to obtain articles 
which to them had no value, and paying for them prices which seemed to them 
to be extravagant. They readily supplied all his demands, however and in a very 
short time a complete set of Chukchies clothes, weapons and household goods 
was provided. 

THE APPROACH OF WINTER. 

Day by day the quantity of ice increased, and every night new fields 
were formed through which it was necessary to plow in the morning. Still 
the vessel pressed on, past the bay, behind Cape Ikraipji, which had been seen 
by Cook in 1778, past a number of inlets, capes and promontories, everywhere 
greeted by the Chukchies with enthusiasm. These people it seems were not the 
original inhabitants of the country, for even in the little tifne allowed, the 
members of the expedition discovered the remains of an older race that had been 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


537 


driven away by the modern invaders. In and around abandoned houses were 
discovered bones and stone monuments of uncertain age. Uncertain, because in 
the Arctic regions great caution is necessary in forming a judgment as to the 
antiquity of ruins or remains. Paths from village to village along the shore 
are sometimes visible after the lapse of a century. It was comparatively easy 
for Nordenskiold and his men to establish friendly relations with the amicable 
people who now inhabit the extreme north-western corner of Asia, but on sev¬ 
eral occasions they made the mistake, with ludicrous results, of supposing some 
particular native to be the chief of his village. In this they were invariably 
mistaken, for all persons in the tribes were equal; there was no distinction in 
rank in the community. 

THE VEGA FROZEN IN. 

Progress became daily more difficult, finally was stopped, and on October 
2d the Vega was frozen in on an open road, exposed to every danger, both from 
the wind, the moving ice, and the swell of the sea which constantly kept the 
pack in motion. The result was a bitter disappointment to the crew, who had 
hoped that in a few days more they would pass through Behring Strait into a 
sea where ice is. unknown, and instead, found themselves condemned to winter on 
an inhospitable coast and under circumstances of such great peril. But there was 
no help for it, and for the next ten months they were compelled to make the best 
of the situation, which, although unpleasant, nevertheless had redeeming features. 
Preparations were made to render the vessel comfortable; the snow which up 
to that time had been carefully swept away, was allowed to remain on the 
deck until a coating of six or seven inches thick had accumulated, and thereby 
the comfort of the vessel was greatly increased. Snow banks were also piled up 
against the sides, and a staircase of ice was constructed from the gangway down 
to the level of the sea. Above the deck a canvas tent was stretched, and although 
this tent did not materially increase the warmth of the ship, it nevertheless made 
a shelter from the wind, and provided a sort of reception room where the Chuk- 
chies, whom it was not thought advisable to admit below deck, could be received 
and entertained. To provide against every emergency, provisions, ammunition, 
clothing and guns were removed to the mainland, and a store made, containing 
sufficient supplies for thirty men for one hundred days. There was danger of the 
vessel being nipped in the ice, and in case she should be sunk or cut through 
at the water line, it was highly important that provision should be made for the 
future. The stores thus removed from the ship were placed on the land; no 
watch was kept, and they were covered only by a sail cloth held fast by stones; 
but notwithstanding that the Chukchies had seen the removal, and knew that 
the heap contained what to them were goods of priceless value, not a thing was 
touched throughout the entire winter. 


CHAPTER LIII. 



WINTER AMUSEMENTS. 

INTER life on board ship is monotonous at 
best, but the most careful arrangements were 
made by Nordenskiold to preserve the health 
of his men. The food was in sufficient variety 
and abundance, so that a different bill of fare 
was arranged for every day; nor was there 
any lack of fuel, for when the natives ascer- 
‘ 9 tained that wood was wanted, they brought 
drift in quantities, to exchange for articles 
0 they needed. Courses of lectures were ar- 
ranged, various entertainments were provided, 
and every effort made to keep up the health, 
strength and spirits of the men. But the most 
fruitful source of entertainment and amusement 
was found in the constant visits of the natives. The intelligence that a ship 
was frozen in in their neighborhood, soon spread along the coast, and 
visitors came from near and far to view the wondrous spectacle. Frequently, 
dog teams by dozens waited around the ship, while the natives begged, and 
often in sheer pity for the half frozen dogs the commander would order pein- 
mican to be distributed among them, to the disgust of their owners who, 
unless prevented, would even rob their own curs of the provisions they deemed 
thrown away. 

At first, in the excess of their friendliness, the natives wanted to go below, 
and visit the private rooms of the ship, and being prevented from so doing, re¬ 
sented the interference so much that they occasionally declined to allow the 
whites to enter their tents on shore, but with kindness and firmness, they soon 
became accustomed to the deprivation; though not thieves, they were intolerable 
beggars, and made heroic efforts to cheat the whites in every conceivable way; 
they would bring the bodies of foxes which had been skinned, and endeavor to 
pass them off on the crew as hares; learning that the whites bought geese and 
ducks by weight they soon learned to fill the bodies with stones, so that great 
caution was necessary in dealing with them. Many curious observations were 
made by the Vega’s crew on the habits and customs of these simple savages. 
Even in the coldest weather, the Chukchies carry on fishing through holes in 
the ice. After the holes had been cut by the men, the women attended to the 
rest of the business, being protected from the cutting winds and the driving 

^538) 






UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


539 


snow by a small wall of ice built in a semi-circle to the windward of the ice 
hole. Placing themselves on hands and knees, they would utter a peculiar 
clattering cry which attracted the fish, and then with wonderful dexterity would 
throw them out on the ice by means of a small hook fastened on the end of 
a stick. 

A CHUKCHIE POTENTATE. 

Not many weeks had passed before a visit was received from a most impor¬ 
tant personage. One morning the attention of the crew was attracted by a 
procession, at once unusual and imposing, advancing from the land to the ship. 
A number of natives were drawing a large sledge, which, on a nearer approach, 
was seen to be occupied by a man lying at full length. At first it was supposed 
that this was some sick person who was being brought to the ship for medical 
treatment, but, to the astonishment of the crew, as the sledge came along side, 
the occupant arose and walked on board in great state, and with much solemnity 
announced himself as the representative of the Russian government. 

A Chukchie like the others, he knew but few words of Russian and even 
those were mispronounced, but his official position seemed undoubted, and on 
further investigation it appeared that a request having been sent by the King 
of Sweden to the Czar to extend such aid as was possible to the expedition 
should it stand in need of any, a circular order to that effect had been despatched 
to all the Siberian provinces, and the Governor had communicated its import to 
the Russian representative among the Chukchies, who, in obedience to the man¬ 
date, had come to tender his services and transact a little business on his own 
account. Wassili Menka, for such was the name of this individual, was anxious 
to impress the Chukchies with an abiding sense of his greatness, and therefore 
refused to walk to the ship, but lay down in the sledge and insisted that he 
must be drawn by men instead of dogs, for otherwise the strangers would think 
that their master was only a common king instead of a great potentate. They 
complied with his whim, but later took occasion to protest, declaring that any 
one of themselves was just as good as Menka, the only difference being that, 
in some way, he had secured the favor of the Russian Governor. 

SENDING LETTERS HOME. 

As Menka intended to return at once to his village in the interior, the 
opportunity was seized of sending letters which might or might not reach their 
destination. Several were accordingly written, detailing, in brief, the state of the 
expedition, the health of those on board and the position of the ship. These letters 
were, after the fashion of the country, securely tied between two boards ; and to Menka 
was given, to be forwarded to the Governor, a large open letter on parchment, 
being a request to all officials of the Russian government to forward the pack¬ 
age without delay. Of this document, imposing from its size and the big red 
seal at the bottom, Menka made a shrewd use. After returning to the village, 
he called the population about him, and commanding silence, stood on a sledge 
and produced the official looking parchment. Holding it upside down from the 


540 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


impression that, of course, the seal must be at the top, he proceeded to read 
from it long sentences of fluent Chukchie, lavishly commendatory of himself 
and telling the high opinion that was expressed to him by his white brothers 
in the ship. The proceeding evidently raised him greatly in the estimation of 
his people, as he had intended it should and from that time on Menka was a 
man of distinction and gave himself airs. 

Six months later, in June, of the following year, the crew was thrown into 
a state of feverish excitement by the arrival of a native, who announced him¬ 
self the bearer of a letter. As it had already been ascertained by the Chukchies 
that good news was well paid for, and the men of the ship had, on more than 
one occasion, been lavish of their liquor and delicacies given in receipt of false 
and unimportant intelligence, there was a disposition to be incredulous about 
the letter till it was produced. On being questioned on this point, it was dis¬ 
covered that the native really brought a document of some kind, but had left 
it at the village, until he could make sure of being paid for his long journey. 
On being satisfied on this point, he produced the letter, which, to the disap¬ 
pointment of every one, proved to be nothing more than an extremely short, 
and formal note from the Governor of the province, stating that the letters had 
been received and would be forwarded in accordance with the request. Save 
these few words, no other communication from civilization was received during 
the winter, though of course there was nothing extraordinary in this fact, for 
more than one Arctic expedition passed two or more years with no news from 
the outside world. 

IN THE MIDST OF A STRONG ODOR. 

With the aid of Menka, who was a capitalist, as he owned a large herd of 
reindeer, several excursions were made, even in the dead of winter, but little 
of interest was developed by these land journeys, which were so unpleasant 
that they were soon abandoned. The Chukchies were by no means civilized 
in their notions of cleanliness, and after an officer had slept three or four 
nights in a tent twelve feet in diameter with twenty or thirty natives and their 
dogs he was quite willing to abandon the search for knowledge and let some¬ 
body else go on the next journey. Every one who undertook these jaunts, 
however, was amazed at the endurance both of the Chukchies and their dogs, for 
frequently the natives and their canine steeds would make a journey of thirty- 
six hours, with very few halts and without food, and at the end seem as fresh 
as when they started. 

As soon as the vessel was frozen in, the scientific work of the winter 
began in earnest, an observatory was erected on the mainland, blocks of ice 
being utilized for the walls and a sail for the roof, and attempts were made to 
render its temperature a little more endurable by means of a wood stove, with 
the result that the observatory nearly went to pieces. The observers were, 
therefore, compelled to content themselves with what heat could be derived 
from their lamps, but so efficient were these that when the temperature outside 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


541 


was thirty-six below zero, within the walls it was only seventeen below, so that 
while almost unendurably cold it was great improvement on the open air. 

The days passed in the routine noted by every explorer in Arctic regions. 
There were observations to be made, daily exercise to be taken for the sake 
of health, the hungry Chukchies were to be fed, and much amusement was 
derived from seeing the earnestness with which they gathered round the cook’s 
galley. Every plate which, with its broken fragments, came from below was 
carefully scraped and even licked by the hungry unfortunates, and when no 
more remained from tbe dinner a large pot of soup, containing a little of 
everything that happened to be handy, was set out by the cook, and the Chuk¬ 
chies helped themselves as best they could. Courses of lectures and other 
entertainments were provided for officers and men, amusements of various 
kinds were improvised to help pass away the time, and thus the long dark 
winter was rendered endurable. 

THE JANUARY THAW. 

In January there came hope of a release, for the natives declared that 
frequently several weeks of good weather were known at that time of year. 
Sure enough, soon after the first day of the New Year, the south-west wind 
blew softly, the ice began to melt, large fields broke from the shore and 
floated slowly away to the north. The Chukchies prepared their fishing hooks 
and tackle and the crew of the Vega felt their spirits revive, for with a 
few days good weather they would pass the narrow strait between Asia and 
America and soon be in seas where ice is unknown. But these bright an¬ 
ticipations were doomed to disappointment, for after a few pleasant days, 
heavy winds set in from the north, followed by intense cold. The floes which, 
under the influence of the southern breeze, had drifted away, were brought 
back by the northern blast with such force as to pile them up round the Vega, 
the great broken masses lying in disordered fragments almost as high as the 
tops of her masts. 

A CHUKCHIES’ FEAST. 

With the northern ice came also the Chukchies. On the approach of good 
weather the natives had deserted the ship, having made a large capture of seals 
along the shore. They had taken enough, with economy, to last them the 
whole winter, but not having the slightest notion of forethought, the abun¬ 
dance lasted only a few days. During the season of plenty they had turned 
up their noses at the fare given them on the ship, but when starvation came 
again, the daily barter was renewed; blocks of ice, for the use of the cook, 
pieces of wood, whale-bone, clothing, weapons, anything that would buy food, 
w r ere brought in abundance, and found ready sale. While, in case of necessity, 
they could live on very little, they made themselves compensation for the com¬ 
pulsory fast by astounding gormandizing when food was abundant. Nordenskiold 
saw a party of eight persons, three men, two women and three children, dispose 
of over thirty pounds of solid food at one sitting. The meal was in courses;. 


542 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


for the first, came raw fish, frozen, pieces being snapped oif with as much 
gusto as an American youngster bites off a bit of candy. Then came a soup 
made of the mossy contents of the stomachs of reindeer, after which a course 
of boiled fish was undertaken with as much earnestness as though the feast 
had just begun. Frozen seal blubber in long hard strips came next, and the 
dinner was ended by the production of a large lump of seal flesh, weighing 
about twelve pounds. Each took the mass in one hand and held it to his face. 
Finding a point where it could be conveniently attacked, he opened his mouth 
to its utmost width and took in as much as he could; then, with a knife in 
the other hand, cut off his mouthful from the main body and proceeded to chew, 
working as hard as he could so as to be in readiness when it had completed 
the circle and got back to him. 

The leader of the expedition being on this occasion an honored guest, the 
lady of the house did him the special favor of tendering him the first bite, 
previously nibbling the whole piece to ascertain the most tender part and then 
showing him its situation that he might know where to attack it. He declined 
the honor, when she, supposing his reluctance arose from an inability either to 
understand or to comply with their customs, herself bit off a large piece which 
she then took in her hand and offered for his acceptance. 

DAYBREAK AFTER A WINTER’S NIGHT OF SIX MONTHS. 

Thus in one way and another, by feasting, dancing, fishing, hunting, eating 
and sleeping the long winter passed away. In February the light was so bright as 
to necessitate the use of colored glasses to protect the eyes. The effects of 
the incessant glare were very apparent on the optics of the Chukchies, many 
of whom were almost deprived of sight, while even the hares shot by the 
hunters were snow-blind and thus unable to escape. Gradually the light 
increased and little by little the snow began to disappear. There were other 
signs of spring. Before the snow was gone the geese, ducks and gulls began 
to appear, coming in large flocks from the south where they had passed the 
winter in comfort. Travelling cost them nothing; they had no preparations to 
make, no hotel bills to pay, their passes needed no renewal and they really 
enjoyed the trip. Beginning to arrive in April, they were followed a month 
later by song birds. The flight of the feathered denizens of the woods had 
been no longer, but their wings were less adapted to the labors of the way, and 
they arrived in a state of great exhaustion. To the wearied prisoners on the 
ship they were welcome as harbingers of speedy release and when they fell on 
the deck, or alighted among the ropes, they were fed and protected. Hundreds 
found on the ship that shelter and food which the land denied, and the deck 
was made merry with their chirping. 

THE SNOW-BUGS. 

As spring came on and the snow and ice was drenched with water a 
curious phenomenon was observed. Wherever the foot sank a bluish light 
flashed, remaining for some minutes after the disturbing cause had ceased. At 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


543 


first this queer result was deemed electrical in its origin, but a careful micro¬ 
scopical examination of the snow disclosed the fact that the light was due to 

exceedingly minute 
crustaceans, which, 
by millions, had their 
home in the slush and 
thrived in a temper¬ 
ature scarcely above 
the freezing point. 
But this was not the 
only example of ani¬ 
mal life at very low 
temperature, for in 
several cases living 
animaculae were dis¬ 
covered in snow of a 
temperature very far 
below zero. 

In July the snow 
had disappeared from 
the land, and lines 
of bare, unattractive 
brown hills, with lit¬ 
tle vegetation and 
scarcely any apparent 
means of supporting 
•animal life, were pre¬ 
sented to view. There 
was apparently noth¬ 
ing to tempt human 
beings to remain in 
such a country, and 
yet the Chukchies, 
although they had 
abundant opportunity 
for a change of resi¬ 
dence preferred their 
own hills and their ten 
months of snow to any 
country on the globe. 

THE VEGA FREE. 

Still the ice showed no signs of breaking up, and from its density and 
quantity the tired voyagers calculated that they would not be able to break 























544 


UNKNOWN SEAS AND SAVAGE LANDS. 


their frozen fetters before the last of the month or me first of August. While 
the Vega’s crew was at the midday meal on the 18th of July a heavy shock 
was felt, and the vessel moved uneasily as she settled down in the ice. In an 
instant all was excitement. The ice was breaking up. Under the influence 
of a warm south wind the floes were moving and here and there long rifts 
appeared in the ice-fields which for ten months had held the Vega a prisoner. 
Hurried preparations were made for immediate departure. Not a moment was 
to be lost. The engines were in perfect order, for, in anticipation of the thaw 
the boilers had been cleaned and all made ready for a start. Fires were at once 
lighted, and smoke began to pour from the funnel. Two hours later, at 3.30 in 
the afternoon, the screw began to revolve, and the Vega crashed through the 
floating ice on her way to the south. As she passed the peninsula where the 
Chukchie village was situated, the whole population came out to witness the 
departure of their friends of the winter and from the deck men and women could 
be seen wringing their hands and weeping while the “ smoky reindeer,” as they 
called the vessel, bore away those who for many months, had stood between 
them and starvation. 

THE RETURN HOME. 

Two days later, the Vega passed through Behring Strait and began a 
homeward voyage that was a continued ovation. Stops were made at various 
ports in Japan, China, and India; the Suez Canal was passed through and 
pauses were indulged in at several points of the Mediterranean, the officers and 
crew every where receiving evidence of the popular appreciation of their exploit; 
and so, through the Strait of Gibraltar and by way of the English Channel, 
the Vega finished her circumnavigation of Asia and Europe. 

The voyage of the Vega was the most remarkable achievement in the 
history of Arctic exploration, for without the loss of a man, with little suffer¬ 
ing, and hardly any sickness, the problem of the north-east passage was solved. 
The journey was almost made in one season for, as indicated, the vessel was 
within two days’ sail of Behring Strait when enclosed in the ice. More than 
this time would have been lost in halts at different points on the route; over 
two days, in all, had been spent in dredging, and all this time would have been 
utilized in pressing on, had the explorers guessed how near they would come 
in making the voyage in a single summer. 

The route thus pointed out by Nordenskiold is no longer needed for com¬ 
merce, for the uncertain navigation of a treacherous sea is rapidly being sup¬ 
planted by railroads through every part of Siberia, but man feels a natural and 
commendable pride in doing what has been pronounced an impossibility. The 
leader of the Vega expedition accomplished his object and enrolled his name at 
the head of the list of Arctic explorers, for however long that roll in future 
years may become, no copy of it will be complete which does not begin with 
the name of Nordenskiold. 


























































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































